A Small Gray Matter
by Chaosdablkcat
Summary: The world attempts to recover from the events of C.O.E. Warning contains spoilers and profanity in several chapters. Author's Note: Finally Updated!
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** chaosdablkcat

**Pairing: **Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys & Martha/Tom

**Rating:** M (_Warning_: _Contains profanity_)

**Summary:** C.O.E. fix-it/A.U.: To what extremes will Jack go to get the man he loves back?

**Disclaimer:** Some of the characters in this story belong to the BBC.

**Beta Read By: **Kaseykc

**Author's Note:**The lovely Kaseykc has now agreed to be my beta reader. She has worked very hard to give my work a "British" voice. And I really recommend that everyone re-read this story and let her know how much you appreciate her efforts.

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Captain Jack Harkness rested on the bench that sat against the hallway outside the room where Steven had died. He was staring at the floor desperately trying to compose himself as he tried to decide what to do next. He had already called Gwen to find out that Ianto's family was okay. Now he just wanted to talk to Alice to try to explain why he had to do it; to beg for her to forgive him. He had lost so much over the last few days that he just couldn't stand losing her too. He kept thinking about the repercussions of the last few days in his head.

"_Oh God...I killed my own grandson!!!...Why did I have to choose between him and all those other children?... Damnit it's not fair!!!... I can't die and everyone I love ends up dead!!!... I can't stand this!!!... Oh Ianto, I wish you were here right now... You would have helped me find another way... A way to save all of the children including Steven...But I got you killed too!!!... It's all my fault... I shouldn't have let you come with me... I should have made you stay with Gwen, DAMNIT!!! You were just 26 years old!!!...You were just a baby... And you died just because you loved me!!!... I should've ret-conned you and Gwen after Tosh and Owen died... I would have missed you terribly but you'd still be alive!!!_

_Why did this happen? Where in the hell is the Doctor? It wasn't supposed to happen like this... Where is the bloody Time Agency? I don't remember anything like this happening in the official historical records!!!... And where in the hell is the fucking Shadow Proclamation???... They're supposed to prevent things like this from happening!!! ... Aren't they supposed to protect small backward planets like this?_

_Where the in the fucking hell are they?_

_Alice hates me now... she hates me for killing Steven... But what in the fuck was I supposed to do???... One life for millions! It wasn't like I even had a real choice... FUCK... I hate this... I hate this...I hate my life...I want to die!!! Oh...God, Rose why in the hell did you do this to me? Why can't I die? I want to die... I want to die... I want to die... I want to end this!_

_The hub's gone...the SUV's gone... Suzie's dead...Grey's dead...Tosh's dead...Owen's dead...Myfanwy's dead...Janet's dead...Ianto's dead...Steven's dead...Alice hates me!_

_It's all my fault... I can't do this anymore...They were never supposed to question our_ _authority... Torchwood was supposed to be untouchable! Fucking politicians playing God with children's lives... It's my fault... I should have told them 'no' in 1965 when they came the first time!_

_No... No... No... This isn't happening!_

_I want my family back!_

_I want my lover back! _

_I WANT MY FUCKING LIFE BACK!!!!"_

Alice walked through the double doors at the end of the hallway, not really thinking; so traumatised by the death of her beautiful boy. When she looked up from the ground she saw at her _father_ sitting at the far end of the corridor. He raised his head and looked at her with despair on his face his eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Any other time she may have gone over to him and cared for him; made him feel better but that time had long since passed; he deserved nothing from her except contempt. With a look of disgust on her face and tears running freely down her cheeks, she glared at him and said nothing, choosing to instead turn back around and simply leave him there. Alone.

Slowly, with a broken heart, Jack rose from the bench and absently walked through the double doors at the opposite end of the hall; not knowing where he was going or what he was going to do next.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack silently walked away from the military base; his pace never faltering nor increasing from its slow and steady pace. The walk of a broken man. No solider made a move to stop him; quite the wise decision as he would easily have hurt any of them who were dumb enough to try. He felt like he was nothing but a walking set of raw nerves and positively boiling-over with emotion now. All he could feel was pain. Every part of his body ached and his brain was a beehive of self recrimination and anger.

He walked, simply because he couldn't think of anything better to do, in fact he couldn't really think of anything; his mind simply replayed the entire event over and over in his old and aged mind. Because he was so engrossed in his thoughts of needless death and self-loathing, when he finally came to his sense he belatedly realised that he had no idea as to how many miles he had walked in his zombie-like haze; which meant he had no clue as to where he was.

Deciding that it would be a good idea he took to continuing his walk in the same direction he had been heading in the first place. As a result it was nightfall before he reached any true sign of civilization and he was immensely relieved to find he was actually in Bath. The people who lived there were out in force, their anger of the day's events beginning to turn to violence.

Avoiding any of the groups of angry men; boys really, Jack made his way to the train station and was relieved to see the trains were still running. He bought a ticket to go back home to Cardiff and, after a 45 minute delay due to the rioting, passengers were at last able to board the train.

Once they were moving he noticed that he was one of only 5 passengers riding in the carriage. The other 4 passengers were huddled together telling each other frightening stories about the day's events. Several seats behind the pack, Jack sat alone trying not to listen in to the heated discussion; that didn't mean that he couldn't hear what they said though.

To his horror there were already tales of parents being killed trying to protect their children from being collected by the armed forces in the United States, Brazil, Sudan, and the Ukraine. The group also spoke of reports of people being attacked by crazed wolves with red eyes in Ireland. Then there were the stories of an ancient trireme warship filled with crew in period dress suddenly appearing on a beach in Turkey.

Jack sighed obviously people were beginning to descend in to mass hysteria now. John Frobisher had been right the world was now descending into hell_, "And lucky me I have a front seat view of all the action,"_Jack thought bitterly to himself.

Looking out the window Jack started to see fires visible in the distance,"_Oh Shite! This is bad.... very, very bad!" _He tried to call Gwen to check on her and Rhys but all the lines were busy, "_Not good...Not Good...Shite!!!"_

Jack, by now, wasn't the only person in the carriage who became aware that parts of the countryside were ablaze.

Frightened voices began to get louder as the rest of the passengers started to panic. Shortly before they pulled into the station the conductor informed everyone that Martial Law had been declared and all of Britain was now under curfew.

As they exited the train they were greeted by soldiers who were waiting outside the station for the passengers; they stood next to bright yellow buses. All passengers were told they were being allowed an escort home to ensure their personal safety. A _gift_ to ensure all citizens that they could indeed trust the military to protect them; of course, it also made it abundantly clear that if anyone wanted to leave the station it would be by military guard only.

"_It's the same fucking buses they used to collect the kids in!"_ Jack thought, feeling the bile rise in the back of his throat.

Without any other choices available to him Jack entered the bus hackles raised, preparing himself for a fight. Upon entering the bus he had to pick his final destination, he gave the soldier the address to Ianto's flat.

"_I've got nowhere else to go... Who knows maybe MI5 will kill me when I get there."_

Much to his surprise though, the soldiers stuck to their word and dropped _all_ the passengers off at their intended destinations; including him.

While waiting to be dropped off at the flat, Jack started to notice the destruction of the city. Litter, rocks and broken bricks covered the sidewalks and streets. Windows on storefronts and some houses were broken, along with several smashed cars. The bus passed a couple of cars on fire and the smell of burning rubber and fuel poisoned the air outside and inside the bus.

Jack couldn't believe the how much destruction could happen so quickly. Looking at his watch he realised that it seemed as though civilisation had collapsed less than 8 hours after the all the governments of the world tried to meet the 456's demands; total anarchy. Like everyone else riding the bus, Jack spent the journey home in silent tears.

He was simply exhausted when he arrived at the building and it took everything he had to climb the six-steps to the door of Ianto's flat. With a shaking hand it took him three tries before he could fit his key into the lock and unlock the door. Once inside he simply shut the door, collapsed against the frame and began bawling hysterically. He was unaware that his sobbing had caused the flat's other occupant to wake.


	3. Chapter 3

Captain John Hart had left where he was staying in Belgium to arrive in Cardiff two days earlier. The worldwide reports of weird things happening started shortly after children around the globe began chanting. There were stories of strange creatures roaming the streets of Nova Scotia, Ireland and China. A Shogun Warrior on horseback had terrorized shoppers at a mall in Japan then suddenly disappeared in thin air. Tourists witnessed a 75 year old grandfather turned into an infant in the middle of La Lonja in Spain after he picked up a small silver ball that had suddenly appeared at his feet. And the stories had just gotten crazier and crazier after that.

The former Time Agent knew that something was wrong, _very _wrong. John had never claimed to be the smartest man in the universe, but he did know enough about Earth's history to know that there had never been any record of the events that had been occurring in the last few days. He'd figured that Torchwood 3 would know what was going on. He had hoped at least.

John had been able to track Jack's wristband to the hub but then the trail went dead. He became really worried when he found that the hub was totally destroyed and the team was missing. Becoming more troubled he decided to find out the location of Ianto's flat and see if he could find a clue to their whereabouts from there.

He'd arrived earlier in the morning. But after realizing no-one had been there for days, he'd decided to just hang out and wait for Jack and his eye candy to show up. After a few hours though he'd got bored waiting around and decided to drink several bottles of wine that he had found in the kitchen; slightly drunk he'd eventually collapsed and fallen asleep on the couch. He had never expected to wake and find his former Time Agent partner, and ex-lover, in this kind of frantic state.

There had been a time in his life when John would have done _anything_ to make Jack happy, and he deeply regretted the whole incident with Jack's brother Grey. He'd no idea that the boy was more of a sociopath than even _he_ was; that he would go to such extremes to hurt Jack and his friends. And he'd never meant for Owen and Tosh to die that day. He was still on Earth for no other reason than he had been trying to figure out a way to redeem himself in Jack's eyes.

"Jack, is that you... What's wrong? Where's Ianto?" John asked as he edged closer, slowly.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET IN HERE? GET OUT!" Jack, who had suddenly been snapped from his sobbing the moment he'd heard John's voice, screeched as he launched himself from his position on the floor with his hands reaching for John's throat.

John quickly grabbed Jack's torso and tackled him to the ground. For several minutes they wrestled each other for dominance which only ended with John eventually managing to pin Jack to the floor.

"Will you calm down and tell me what's wrong?" he growled in his former lovers face. After a few second's more of struggling Jack suddenly went boneless underneath him. Hesitating for a moment, to make certain that Jack wasn't faking, John climbed off of Jack, stood up and offered Jack his hand, "Come on, let's have a seat on the sofa and you can tell me what's going on."

Jack reluctantly took John's hand, stood up and allowed him lead him into the living room. They sat on opposite sides of the sofa and after a few minutes Jack began to speak. First confessing what he had done in 1965 then talking non-stop about what happened during the past week.

He described the explosion in the hub. Explained how Ianto, Gwen and Rhys were hunted by their own government. He talked about Alice; his daughter, and Steven; his grandson, the family that no one knew about. Then he spoke of how the government had discovered them and held them hostage using them like pawns to enforce its collective will.

He spoke of the 456's arrival and his disastrous confrontation. He explained what they wanted the children for and the sickening way that the world's governments gave in to their demands. He finally explained his last minute gut-wrenching choice to sacrifice his own grandchild to save the rest of world's children and, when Jack had finished, he had been reduced to sobbing mess once again.

Feeling bad for the guy, John gave Jack a couple of minutes to sob his heart out, before saying, "I honestly don't know what to say. I know your upset about Ianto and your family; but what do you know about the other stuff that's been going on this past week?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked looking hurt and confused; he'd just told John about some of the worst things to happen to him in his entire existence and here he was, asking about whether he'd seen the news lately.

John turned on the television, switching it to BBC World News, "Just listen for a few minutes."

As Jack expected the biggest news was the fallout from the 456's extortion attempt and who was to blame for what had happened; the fact that Martial Law had been declared in Britain; that the cost of worldwide riots and protesting in the aftermath was totalling in the hundreds of millions of pounds; and that Brian Greene and most of his advisers had been placed in protective custody after a video of their deliberations choosing the British 10% was leaked to the public by a unknown source.

"_Ah... Gwen you naughty girl!"_Jack would have smiled if it wasn't so heart-breaking.

The co-anchors continued to talk about; several earthquakes _all_ registering 7.5 on the Richter scale, occurring over the last three days in France, Kansas, Finland and South Africa, and an update with video proof, about the story about the 75 year old man transforming into a baby. Jack watched in fascination as the old man changed in front of several groups of tourist. Their shouts of amazement in several languages and the infant's screams of terror could be heard underneath the commentator's non-stop comments.

John suddenly turned off the television and turned to face Jack.

"What's going on Jack? It's like the world's coming to an end! Chanting children, earthquakes, old men turning to babies, and monsters running around the streets. What's next, locust???"

'_This is just like when Owen opened up the Rift to get Tosh and-',_"Oh shite! Oh shite! With everything else going wrong I _completely_ forgot about the rift... Damnit, I bet it's been opened again!" Jack exclaimed in wide-eyed horror.

"What are you going on about?" John asked, his eyebrow knitting together in confusion.

"The Rift Manipulator is, was, at the centre of the hub; it helps to keep the Rift stable and we used it to monitor its activity! This is bad John... end of the world bad!"

John raised an eyebrow in worry and asked, "How do we fix it?"

"The equipment was probably severely damaged during the explosion... and everyone who could help us is dead... for _six_ _days_ now the Rift has probably been spreading out into this world. Last time we had to completely open the Rift Manipulator to reset it and when we did it was disastrous."

"So... We're just going to sit here and wait for the world to end is that it?" Hart said sceptically.

"No. I just don't know what to do, _yet_... I told you earlier... no car... no cool clubhouse... no cool toys and gadgets; a four weeks pregnant Welshwoman, her grumpy husband and myself are _all that's left_ of Torchwood. And after yesterday I'm not even sure we have a _job_ anymore!" Snapped Jack glaring at John.

"Here's an idea, Jack? Perhaps you should call whoever's in charge? Surely there's someone on this planet that has _some_ concept of the space-time continuum and how to go about fixing the problem? Tosh and Owen were good but you've had what? Six _months_ to find replacements... face it, if you hadn't been so short staffed maybe we wouldn't be in this mess right now! And maybe, just maybe, Ianto and Steven would still be alive... if you hadn't thought that THREE FUCKING PEOPLE COULD SAVE THE WORLD!" John shouted in absolute anger at Jack's arrogance.

"SHUT UP!"

"Admit it Jack... your failure isn't that your friends died, it's that you haven't let them go!"

"How dare YOU... you don't know anything about them! They were my family! I loved them! You have no idea how special they were! You...." Jack gasped for breath, his eyes brimming with tears.

"God Jack, if they were just so fucking perfect why don't you just clone the whole lot of them!"

Jack looked at John if he had been slapped.

"What did you just say?" He said softly, looking at John.

John knew he'd said too much as Jack rushed forward and grabbed him tightly around the shoulders.

Much to his surprise instead of Jack punching him, he suddenly kissed him hard on the mouth, flashed one of his dazzling smiles, threw his head back and started laughing.

"Have you gone _mental_?" John said looking at him wearily.

"I can clone them! I can bring them all back! I can reunite Mom and Grey... I can give Alice her son back... I can have Ianto back!" He beamed a dazzling smile in absolute happiness.

"Oh, no you can't! This is the 21st Century Jack, cloning is in its infancy now. It can't be done" John argued pulling himself out of Jack's grasp.

"Well _duh_... I'll have to travel to the future to get it done, silly. Some time, where they'll be better than real, natural-born humans. The 63rd... the 64th Century maybe?"

"And just how do you plan to get to the 64th Century Jack? Hitch a ride with your friend the _Timelord_ maybe? You also need a brain scan to program the clones with or they'll be nothing more than simple pets. Not even you are demented enough to put them through that," John argued, shaking his head at Jack's idiocy.

"Actually I have a Memory Retrieving Unit stored somewhere in the hub's archives... with Suzie, Owen, Tosh and Ianto's brain scans on it," Jack said with a smile, "I told them it was a Mind Reader Game so I was able to get them all to let me try it out on them."

John looked at him stunned, "You could have _fried_ their _brains_ with that thing, you _arse_... It was designed to retrieve memories off of dead people, not the living, and who the _hell_ is Suzie?"

"Oh my former second in command, Gwen was her replacement after she killed herself," Jack said with a dismissive hand gesture, "This will be _perfect_ I scanned them before we found the Risen Mitten & Life Knife so she won't be insane now. Although it was during the time that Ianto was hiding Lisa in the basement so I'll need to update his scan. Then all I have to do is scan Grey and Steven's bodies and collect samples. I've got enough money squirreled away in multiple accounts to pay for it, but maybe I'll collect a few small priceless items from the archives just to make sure I have enough."

Sighing in annoyance, John asked, his patience fading fast, "I'll ask you _again_; how do you plan to get to and from the 64th Century, Jack?"

"We'll have to fix my wrist strap, once it's repaired and with your help it should only have to take a couple trips for us to get everyone home," Jack answered with a smile.

"You have _lost_ your mind! Only _you_ would be dumb enough to ask me to help you bring back you dead lover and friends," John snapped.

Jack took his hands and cupped either side of John's face looking deep into his eyes, "You once swore that you loved me and I wanted to give you forever. _You_ were the one who decided that he didn't want to be tied down. Remember, you walked out on me."

"I've asked you _repeatedly_ to forgive me. I've regretted my decision for years...It's not fair, he's dead and I'm still here and you would _still _rather be with him instead of me," John said sadly pulling out of Jack's embrace, "What makes him so damn special?"

"I can't believe you're _this_ jealous of him! It's not Ianto's fault that he became the most important person in my life, but unlike you he wanted to be with me forever. We talked about it... a lot. Late when it was just the two of us, we would talk about my immortality. He hated the thought of me being alone. I would never wish the curse of immortality on anyone. But I would do anything to be with him forever."

"Well it's just too bad that your perfectly _wonderful_ relationship lasted only what... two, three years. I'm supposed to believe that you are an immortal from 3000 years in the future and that your soul mate is a 26 year-old piece of eye candy from the ass-backward 21st century. Let me guess, was it love at first sight?" John sneered.

"Our relationship was far from perfect. There were tons of secrets we kept from each other. The truth is I've told him almost nothing about my past; never talked about my _former_ marriages. I never told him any of the details about _our _relationship. I never told him about my children or my only grandchild. He found out about Alice and Steven less than 20 minutes before he was killed. And for _your_ information when we first met he flirted his way into a job at Torchwood 3 so that he could hide his partially-converted Cyber-man girlfriend in the basement!" Jack snapped.

"Whoa... backup for a second... how did his girlfriend end up being a partially-converted Cyber-man?" John paused, confused slightly. This was new.

"Ianto and Lisa were Canary Wharf survivors. And he really thought he could change her back, using Torchwood's access to alien tech to do it. At the time, I felt so angry and betrayed. I almost shot him when I found out. But in the end I realized he tricked us because of his love for her. He was just this scared little boy who wanted his life back. And in the end it was my fault because I never took the time to see how truly damaged he was."

Jack stood up walking away from the couch. He slowly turned around facing John staring straight into his eyes, "In the end we had to kill her. I put him on suspension. And _God_, he hated me _so much_ afterwards. I just knew I'd have to fire him and ret-con the last few years of his life. But in the end he came back to us and kept on working. The sad fact was he was _so_ broken he really didn't think he had anywhere else to go. Then two weeks later he was almost killed by cannibals and had to depend on the team while he recovered. It took awhile but we forgave him and he forgave us... time moved on," He shrugged.

"Jack, you know this is wrong. No one has ever travelled to the future and brought clones back," John tried to reason with Jack.

"Only because they never had a way to do it, I do. The whole bringing clones back through time is just a small gray area. If cloning the dead is fine in the 64th century because it doesn't change history. It's fine in the 21st century. No one from this time will ever be able to tell that they are clones. They will simply be perfectly healthy humans. No matter what test are done no one will ever know how I brought them back," Jack countered, looking at John desperately.

"What about your _Timelord_ friend? He might have a thing or two to say about it," John tried one last time to convince Jack to not go through with his plan but he found that he was starting to warm up to the idea himself.

"I'm sure he will, when he finds out, but I simply don't care anymore. I love the Doctor, I really do and I've become a better man by having him as a friend. But, now when I need him the most, he isn't here. The world isn't fixed yet, and this argument we're having right now doesn't change the fact that the Rift is still unstable and causing world-wide damage. And yet, he's _still_ not here. We are on our own and if this problem can't get fixed, the Earth is doomed. And the repercussions of me cloning my dead friends and family in the future then bringing them back to live in the past, won't really matter... will it?"

John's features softened, "Your right about that," A small smirk played on his lips, "And you know me; I _love_ a challenge, but what are we going to do?"

"Wait right here," Jack told John as he headed out of the living area, down the hall past Ianto's bedroom and bath to a room at the end of the hallway.

"What are you doing Jack?" John asked moving to stand at the hallway entrance.

"Just gathering up a couple of things that we need. Ianto always stored extra supplies for the hub in his spare bedroom closet," Jack explained as exited the room in question. Closing the door he handed John a small torch,

"Like you said, there's got to be someone on this planet who can help fix this mess. Come on, we're going to sneak into the hub, or what's left of it, and see if we can tell what's wrong," Jack said heading towards the door.


	4. Chapter 4

The previous day's protesting of the government was back in full swing as people were once again chanting in the streets. Jack and John took advantage of the crowd's diversion as they quietly walked past the large crater that was formally known as the Roald Dahl Plaza. It was early morning just past dawn and they had to be quick if they wanted to get past the guards protecting the remains of the hub.

Jack was amazed that there were so few people actually guarding the ruins. They easily slipped past the three armed guards and entered via the tourist office that was formally the secret hub entrance. They were surprised to see that the hallway that led to the outside of the cog door entrance was clear, as the clean-up crews were using the pathway for their own needs. And luckily the cog door had been previously pried open by the workmen.

Once inside they looked up through the hole that was once the hub's roof. It was now the only source of light in the room. Jack felt sick. The whole area reeked of mould, earth and decay and they could barely see anything under rubble. Jack was surprised they found no one inside.

"Well I guess that's one good thing about the crowds outside. Hopefully we can get out of here before anyone shows up" Jack said pulling the torch from his pocket and turning it on.

The crews had cleared out paths through the huge piles of rubble to get to the lower areas where the treasures of Torchwood 3 laid.

"I'm going to see if I can track down your wrist strap while we're here," John said scanning the area with his own device.

"That's fine, but stay close it's not safe for you in here."

John rolled his eyes as moved away from Jack, "Yes Mummy," He whispered under his breath.

"I heard that, smart ass. Come on, let's move more to the centre and see if we can see the Rift Manipulator."

They kept moving searching through the rubble until Jack came upon the device. He was unsurprised when he found it had been badly damaged during the explosion.

"Stupid idiots!" Jack growled in frustration wondering how long they had to fix this _mess_, "This is far worse than I expected. There have probably been several military and government officials crawling through here the past week and no one noticed this!" Jack snapped.

"Is it repairable? Can you tell, or is it completely destroyed?"John asked as he joined Jack looking at the equipment in doubt.

"Oh... and by the way I found your Vortex Manipulator on the way over here," John smirked as he casually handed the device to Jack.

"It's sort of a good news/bad news type of thing," Jack explained as looked over his wrist strap before putting it on, "Good news; I think we might have some replacement parts in storage that might be able to repair it. But the bad news is really bad, first; hopefully the replacement parts I just spoke about are still in the hub's storage and haven't already been scavenged, second; the schematics to repair the Manipulator are lost in _some_ pile of rubble in here but, _if_ we're lucky, we can still retrieve a copy from the hub's mainframe if we can't retrieve the master plans, third; any equipment that might aide in predicting how badly the Manipulator is damaged, are laying in pieces around the room, and fourth; we better hope that we can find _some_one with the technical know-how to help us or we are totally screwed because I'm pretty sure it's well beyond our abilities," Jack groaned as the knot that had been tormenting his guts for the past few days flared anew. Rubbing his stomach mindlessly he glanced about the devastation.

"Hopefully it will end up being fine. But for now let's see if we can reach the archives and assess the damage there," Jack suggested.

He was relieved to find the entrance to the archives fairly clear of debris. And as they hurried to the rooms Jack hoped they still contained the device that he needed to complete his plans. Luckily Ianto's expert filing made the search easy; too easy. Jack noticed several key artefacts were missing from the shelves.

"Fucking vultures," Jack muttered.

They, unfortunately, didn't see any of the Manipulator parts Jack thought that they needed listed in any archive files so Jack concentrated on finding the Memory Retrieving Unit instead.

John meanwhile was just looking at the shelves in amazement, "My God Jack! You weren't kidding some of this stuff is priceless," He said eying a collection of rings stored in a display case, "Is there any way you can you tell what's missing yet?"

Suddenly Jack let out a loud whoop. He was ecstatic when he found the _Mind Reader Game_ still on the shelf were Ianto had left it. The smallest glimmer of hope helped to ease some of the angst he had been feeling for the past week.

"Okay let's go get the bio samples next," Jack said with a relived sigh they made their way back up from the archives towards the demolished hub centre.

As they made their way to where Jack thought autopsy was, they suddenly were overcome by the stench of decomposition.

"Oh God no!" he whispered.

They had found Myfanwy, the hub's faithful pet crushed underneath a section of collapsed roofing. An avalanche of hot tears and anger poured forth as Jack tried desperately to pull himself together.

"I am so sorry old girl!" he cried softly, "I knew she would be dead but seeing her like this is so wrong," He smiled a sad smile looking at John with tears in his eyes, "Ianto was the one who first found her and he ended up helping me capture her. She was the final reason I let him join the team."

"I'm sorry, mate. Hopefully it was quick and she didn't suffer much," John said trying to be sympathetic, "I really hate to mention this but we've got to keep moving. Someone could catch us any second," He said trying to divert Jack's mourning of his pet.

Luckily it worked and Jack managed to pull himself together, so they continued on slowly and made their way towards what was formally the autopsy bay.

"Stay here where it's a little safer for you to be," Jack said to John as he climbed down the rubble piled in the bay.

He eventually found the cadaver freezer where Grey had been stored. The door had been torn loose as the flooring above had crushed the chambers below. The stench of decomposition was overpowering as he placed his hand into the destroyed freezer unit and felt for his younger brother's hair.

"Please forgive me," Jack said as he gave a hard tug. Jack retched when he felt the flesh tear from Grey's skull as he pulled away a clump of hair. He hurriedly placed the hair into a small plastic specimen jar and thrust the container into his right pocket.

"Oh that's disgusting!" John gagged.

Jack made a face as he placed the device on his brother's head and ran the scan. A high pitched tone alerted him when the scan had finished, he checked the readings and although there were noticeable gaps in the data he hoped that he had enough of Grey's earliest memories to be useful.

Jack then turned to the refrigeration unit he hoped contained the samples he needed.

"Need any help?" John offered.

"No! I told you stay right where you are. You're in enough danger just standing there and I couldn't stand it if you hurt yourself while trying to help me."

"Careful Jack... that almost sounded as though you really cared," John teased.

After spending several minutes shifting rubble he finally was able to open the door panel. He quickly found the vials he was looking for. After double checking the samples he carefully wrapped each vial in a bubble wrap baggie then he gently put them into his right coat pocket with Grey's hair.

"Okay let's go!" Jack said as he climbed out of the destroyed autopsy bay.

As they were heading towards the cog door Jack noticed that the pathway towards the vaults was also cleared. "Wait. Let's check out the vaults and storage areas down here before we go. We might be lucky enough to find most of the parts we need to fix the Rift Manipulator," he said.

Jack was finally feeling the smallest glimmer of happiness. It looked like the majority of the hub was undamaged. As most of the destruction had been in the main central area and above from where he blew up.

Less than 15 minutes later and they were checking the lower storage areas. When they found several parts that hopefully would be able to fix the Rift Manipulator. Pleased with their findings they moved to the vaults. Jack was delighted because the vaults were undamaged. Which would mean other than being a bit hungry and thirsty Janet and the other inhabitants of the vaults should be fine.

* * *

"I know they'd rather have fresh meat but they'll have to just settle for the dry kibble right now," Jack told John as they loaded up buckets with food and water from vault's storage area just outside of the main room entrance.

"Man it sure stinks in here!" John said outside the main vault as they headed towards the door.

"Hey give them a break it's been a week since we cleaned up after them." Jack said "I'm pretty sure the scavenger squad haven't even bothered to feed them much less pick up their poop."

When they opened the door a wave of decomposition assaulted them. "What the fuck?" Jack dropped the buckets he was carrying and rushed to Janet's open cell.

He found her lying on her back her body riddled with bullet holes."NO! NO! NO! NO! FUCK NOT HER TOO... ITS JUST NOT FAIR... DAMNIT!!!" Jack screamed burying his face in his hands with a sob.

John set down his buckets and checked the other opened cells. Bile rose in his throat as he saw the vault's other inhabitants had received a similar fate. There had been no need to do this. They had all been safely contained and no harm to anyone. The sounds of Jack's crying echoed throughout the chambers.

John was furious. "_No wonder he's clinging to the hope of bringing the others back. Jack's lost his home, job, brother, boyfriend, grandchild, daughter and now his pets in less than a week. He's right... this isn't fair. And though he might not appreciate it, somehow I will punish the people responsible for this." _

John walked back toward Janet's cell unsure what to say or do next.

"It's my fault... again." Jack sobbed "She had been aggressive to humans so we couldn't leave her running the streets anymore... Fuck! They were helpless in these cells and depended on us to take care of them, to protect them. Why would anyone be this cruel?"

Jack looked desperately toward John for some kind of answer.

"I haven't a clue." John answered him back. "And I'm sorry mate, but you can't do anything to help them now. We have what we came for so let's just leave."

He walked into the cell reaching for Jack's arm and gently pulling away from the body. He hated that he was forcing Jack to move but, he needed to get him away from this horrible place. He was becoming afraid for Jack's sanity at this point. He had already lost so much and it was clearly taking its toll on the man.

John lead Jack out of the vaults up the stairs to the destroyed central hub. Leaving through the cog door without looking back. They made their way back quickly and were almost through the secret hub entrance from the tourist office when they were spotted by a couple of UNIT soldiers.

"HALT!" they shouted at them too far away to actually physically stop them. The two men carefully kept walking towards the boardwalk.

"You have been instructed to halt!" Said a third soldier as he ran down the boardwalk towards Jack and John with his gun drawn.

"What are you going to do? Shoot Me?" Jack snared at the man trying to stand in front of John.

"You are trespassing on government property!" Shouted the soldier. "Who are you? And why are you here?" He coolly stated stopping a few feet from the two men and pointing his weapon at Jack's head.

"I'm Capt. Jack Harkness; this was Torchwood 3, my former home and workplace. And we were just examining the damage from the blast." He said in a sarcastic tone as he pulled his ID from his pocket and flashed it at the man's face.

I'm sorry but members of Torchwood haven't been cleared for entrance into the area yet, Sir." The man said lowering his weapon to Jack and raising it toward John.

"And you are?" He asked John, looking at him wearily.

"None of your fucking business is who I am!" Snapped John.

"He's Capt. John Hart and he's with me." Jack quickly replied. He wasn't worried for himself but was afraid that John's mouth would get him shot.

"This area is restricted to authorized personnel only. You have no authority to be here."

"Whatever, Major." Jack snapped as he finally took note of the younger man's rank forcing himself again between the officer and John. "Oh and by the way, since Torchwood 3 is no longer in charge of the area you might want to inform your superiors about the impending crisis with the Rift!"

"Sir?" The Major questioned lowering his weapon.

"What do you idiots think was going on here? Torchwood 3 protected the population from all things alien and guarded the Rift in time and space that runs through Cardiff!" Jack screamed at the man.

"When White Hall and MI5 decided to forget the rules established by Queen Victoria and destroy the hub, the equipment keeping the Rift stable was damaged. And now who knows what's going to happen?" He snarled.

"What...what should we do? Sir?" The Major asked with a look of worry forming on his face.

"Not my problem anymore." Jack said.

"UNIT, White Hall and MI5 wanted to be in charge of everything, Enjoy!" He said as he grabbed John by the arm and quickly led him past the man. "Oh...and try not to blow up the planet while you're at it!" He snapped.

"CAPTAIN HARKNESS!... CAPTAIN!?... What are we suppose to do now?" The Major yelled in a panic as the two wordlessly walked up the boardwalk ignoring the man's pleas.

"Don't know and don't care!" Jack shouted as they left the boardwalk and walking against the wave of protesters headed back in the direction of Ianto's apartment.

"What was that all about? I thought we were going to help fix the problem?" John asked confused by Jack's actions.

"Oh we are but, I'm not in the mood to be nice about cleaning up other people's messes anymore." Said Jack in an agitated tone. "Don't worry John. After that performance, I predict we'll be in military custody by this afternoon."

Jack's statement caused John to burst out laughing.

On the boardwalk, outside of the former tourist office Maj. Tom Ferguson was desperately yelling into his phone.

"Jack Harkness just walked out of the hub ruins." He growled into the phone. "I don't care who's no longer in charge! Get me _somebody_ who still has the ability to make a decision around the place on the fucking phone right now!"


	5. Chapter 5

Jack and John were less than a block away from Ianto's place when suddenly a military transport vehicle pulled alongside stopping less than ten meters away from them. Four heavily armed UNIT soldiers piled out of the vehicle and approached the two men.

"Capt. Jack Harkness and Capt. John Hart, I'm Col. Jeffrey Smith and your presence is requested. Please come this way, gentlemen."Said the leader of the group pointing to the vehicle.

The pair stopped and looked at each other. "Just say the word Jack" John whispered hands moving toward his gun belt.

"Stand down John!" Jack hissed back "This is what I expected, although I thought they would be just a little more subtle about it."

John settled quickly but, the sight of armed soldiers had caused the people on the street to gather. At least a dozen individuals had suddenly appeared from nowhere.

"Captains, we are on a tight schedule, if you please" The Colonel stressed again.

Unfortunately the people on the street still upset over the previous day's events were starting to anger

over seeing yet more citizens being forced into military custody. The crowd started moving closer to the group. Loud shouts brought even more people from the houses to the street. Several people had camera phones, others camcorders recording the event. The soldiers were beginning to fidget as the block became loud with taunts and threats.

"It's okay everyone!" Jack shouted. "They aren't going to hurt us, everything's fine. We just need to go with these gentlemen. Please just go home!"

He was desperate to get the people to calm down and out of the street. So he grabbed John by the elbow and quickly led him to the waiting vehicle. As they entered the vehicle the crowd of bystanders started to swarm around the transport. To the Captains' dismay, Col. Smith instructed the driver to run over anyone who failed to move out of the way. Luckily the crowd parted when the driver gunned the engine. The transport nearly clipped a couple of the straggling mob as it raced down the street towards its undisclosed destination.

"What the hell was that?" Jack screamed at Col. Smith. "Why didn't you simply have your men stand down or simply put away their weapons? There was no need to let things escalate like that!"

"Stupid Gits!" John growled eyes flashing dangerously at the soldiers next to him.

"Capt. Harkness, you and your friend would do well to realize that due to current circumstances you will do as instructed without hesitation. Unless of course you want to risk even more civilian lives."

Jack was furious. "How dare you threaten those people's lives just because you want to." he snapped.

"I wasn't responsible for anything. You and your companion were instructed to come with us. When you failed to comply quickly enough, matters escalated therefore the blame is yours and yours alone." He said coolly.

Jack and John exchanged an angry glance. Jack was furious, but chose not to take the bait and continue arguing with the man.

Satisfied he had made his point, Col. Smith contacted headquarters to alert them of their status then he smugly turned to look at his captives.

Capt. Jack Harkness had an infamous reputation and although he had proven himself useful on repeated occasions. He was deemed in many circles as too much of a maverick. He resisted taking orders from those in _true_ power. Insisted in not sharing most of the intelligence and devices that came from the rift. And often blocked government inspections of the hub.

Col. Smith had a smug satisfaction in knowing that with the changes occurring worldwide if the Captain ever wanted to taste freedom in this lifetime he was going to have to learn how to play ball and fall in line like everyone else.

Capt. Harkness' companion however was causing a huge stir throughout the intelligence community.

There was CCTV footage of him in several locations all over Europe in the last six months but, nothing was actually known about the man. There wasn't a single scrap of evidence that could prove he even existed, it was almost if he just suddenly showed up one day. Now that he was in custody perhaps they would finally get the answers that they desired.

"Is there a problem, Colonel?" Jack asked through gritted teeth. There was something about the man that put Jack's nerves on edge. The man had the most unfortunate rat-like features and self satisfied arrogance poured off the man in waves. It was as if he was the very definition of a "Rat-Faced Bastard".

"Just savouring the fact that you seem to have lost some of your swagger Captain. I'm personally delighted to see Torchwood being put in its place. You lot should have never been given authority over the military or the government." He said with a smug smile curling his lips.

"Frankly you're not smart enough to make the big decisions; you've always failed to see the bigger picture. When I think of all of the weapons and tech that should have been made available to us, frankly you should be charged with treason for denying our access to it."

"Who are you to dare question my loyalty? Torchwood has always taken orders from the crown. We have always been the first line of defense against all alien aggression for more than a century without your unwanted interference. We defended and protected the Earth until White Hall and the Military decided that you were better at it!" Jack snapped.

"The original twelve children in 1965 that was all White Hall's handiwork. And God help me, I regret everyday that I was forced to follow their original orders. I wasn't in charge of Torchwood back then but, I can guarantee that in 2009, Torchwood would have never, ever handed over 10% of the world's population of children to a bunch of intergalactic drug-addicts!" He said with a growl.

After Jack's outburst Col. Smith's face suddenly reddened and contorted into a mask of furry. He quickly turned back around in his seat and spent the rest of the ride quietly fuming.

"Hey Jack, still making friends and influencing people wherever you go?" John whispered with a smirk.

"Shut it!" Jack hushed back.

Suddenly the vehicle came to a stop in front of the UNIT offices. The Captains were quickly led by the Colonel and his men to the second floor and a pair of closed double doors outside a very noisy boardroom. Col. Smith boldly knocked on the doors before pushing them open and pushing his captives through.

There were several people sitting with laptops around at one end of the conference table. Gwen, Rhys and Lois were sitting at the other end talking with a petite older woman in a UNIT officer's uniform. Four Junior officers seemed to be looking through stacks of folders for information. While Three others seemed to be having urgent conversations on their cellphones.

The officer speaking with Gwen suddenly stopped and turned to face the opened doorway. "Where the hell have you been Colonel? And what did you do that caused that neighborhood to start rioting?" A booming Texan accent snapped.

All eyes turned to see the diminutive woman approach the group. Gen. Georgia Bradford was suddenly inches away from the man's face. Although she was easily the smallest person in the room she radiated command and authority. "I asked you simple question, now where is my answer?" She growled, looking angry enough to slap him.

"The Captains refused to come with us when we first approached them... It was their insolence which caused the scene... Then the locals over-reacted when we forced them into compliance of your orders, Ma'am." He said suddenly looking flustered, backing away from the angry General.

"What part of my instructions included using armed guards to pull citizens off the street in broad daylight?" She screamed at the man.

Gen. Bradford suddenly pulled away from her and in a much softer, polite voice she addressed the Captains.

"Capt. Harkness, Capt. Hart, will you please join the rest of your group at the conference table while I sort out this unfortunate mess with my subordinates in private?" She asked with a sweeping motion toward the table in the centre of the room.

As soon as the two men stepped away from the group. She ushered the soldiers out of the room and into the hallway slamming the double doors behind them. Jack and John had barely sat down with the others when the shouting started. The remaining UNIT officers in the room looked terrorized and suddenly became engrossed with their assignments trying to ignore the commotion outside the room.

"Are you all okay?" Jack asked flashing a small smile. "And while its lovely to see you again Miss Habiba. I have to ask, why are you here?"

"I haven't got the slightest idea sir. I was taken from my cell this morning, put in a car and next thing I know I'm told to wait here for the rest of you to come."

"God Jack what's going on? They pulled Rhys and me out of bed this morning and dragged us here. Do you know why? Have they changed their minds and are now charging us with treason? I thought we were cleared? And why in the world are you hanging out with John Hart of all people at a time like this?" Gwen said frantic with worry.

"Please calm down Gwen." Jack said rubbing his hand across eyes in tired frustration. "John's here to help us and trust me we are going to need it. We have been so fixated with the whole 456 situation we never thought about what else happened when the hub blew up. John and I were in the hub earlier, we've found out the Rift Manipulator is severely damaged due to the blast. And if the television reports are to be believed the Rift is probably spreading worldwide."

"What? Oh God... Oh God... What are we going to do Jack?"

"You're going to do your job and try and save the planet." Said Gen. Bradford in a loud voice behind them.

The group was so focused on its conversation that they hadn't noticed the shouting in the hallway had stopped. The double doors opened and General Bradford stepped back into the room just in time to hear Gwen's attack of panic.

"I deeply apologize for earlier events but unfortunately for all of us we do not have the time to waste on tears and introspection. If the reports coming in are to be believed the events of the past week may actually cause the destruction of the entire planet."She said in a grave voice causing everyone in the room to look back in horror.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ladies and gentlemen I wish there was had happier news but, I see no point in sugar-coating anything. The truth is we are royally screwed. There are worldwide protest and riots that the local authorities simply can't handle. Most of the world's military including UNIT are having to deal with infighting and mutinous uprising throughout the ranks. The majority of the world's governments are in upheaval, including Britain. I've been informed that Denise Riley the under secretary who's filling in now will be brought up on charges this afternoon and replaced by this evening. So essentially as of right now there really isn't anyone really in charge at the moment." Gen. Bradford said with a sad face.

"I don't know how we can really help ma'am. Gwen and I are the only members of Torchwood that are left. She's now four weeks pregnant and neither one of us were the scientist of our group. I have only a basic idea of how the manipulator works. The blueprints are lost in the rubble somewhere in the hub. And the only good thing is we might have enough parts to fix it, but we haven't any equipment to monitor rift activity or technicians to make the necessary repairs. Jack said with a serious look.

"Not to worry Captain, luckily for all of us the news of your early morning confrontation with Maj. Ferguson was reported to me and unlike some of my fellow officers I've noticed the odd events that have been reported this week. I've been able to reach a Dr. Malcom Taylor; he's a UNIT scientist who has some working knowledge of what we are dealing with. He has given me names of some of the best and brightest in the field. And I've gathered a select group of engineers to help with any needed construction. Even with worldwide travel restrictions as of 10:00 am the groups are heading to Cardiff as we speak."

"Unfortunately, he's also estimated we have no more than ninety-six hours left before the earth itself starts tearing apart. Even if we can stabilize the Cardiff Rift he believes the damage is already done and we are now looking a multiple Rifts throughout the planet. Which means if we survive through the next week Torchwood is going to become one of the most important agencies on this planet."

The group sat there stunned for a few seconds letting the words she said sink in. Jack finally spoke.

"I'm sorry but why on earth should we trust any of you? UNIT stood by and watched as we were hunted down by MI5 and deliberately prevented our help until it was virtually too late to do anything to stop events."

"I'm sympathetic to your anger Captain, but you must understand. I can't defend a single action that anyone in charge has committed in the last week. Most of the leaders who decided to betray us are now either dead or in custody." She said with a tired look. "I can offer you equipment and manpower and my sincerest apologies on behalf of UNIT itself but, I can't begin to defend the events of the past few days. And I'm not going to waist either of our times trying to explain the indefensible."

A handsome Hispanic man walked in handing the General a memo. Jack and John recognized him from the group of soldiers who came to collect them earlier.

Gen. Bradford scanned the paper before addressing the group.

"The cleanup crews and equipment have arrived to start work on clearing up the hub so that you can start repairs once the others arrive. So I'll wrap up for now and get you on your way Capt. Harkness."

The General said with a small smile.

"This is Lt. Jorge Hernandez and Lt. Beth Walker." She said motioning to an attractive young black woman who came to stand beside her. "They are being assigned to help you with anything you need. They are loyal to me and I trust them completely and so can you."

"He's one of those wankers from earlier. Why should we trust him?" John snapped at the General with a murderous look.

"Don't worry he was sent with the others as my own personal eyewitness to the Colonel's behavior. He was suspected as an insurrectionist and now I have enough proof to have him put up on charges. I told you before there is internal fighting everywhere UNIT included."

"Do you have any request before we get started?" She asked obviously eager to dismiss them.

"Yes, I have a request of a personal nature." Jack said suddenly as they stood to leave.

General Bradford dismissed the others to leave with the Lieutenants as Jack came forward to speak with her in private. He requested the bodies of Ianto Jones and Steven Carter be moved to a cryogenics centre until he had the opportunity to move them safely to the hub. And that he be allowed a private visitation before returning to the hub with the others. Although she personally found the request unusual and a bit distasteful she had been in UNIT long enough to have heard the rumours of the unusual practices regarding Torchwood and their dead. She granted his request as a gesture of friendship although she was uncomfortable about it. She was profoundly grateful when the captain left the boardroom.

* * *

Two hours later Jack entered the room where Ianto and Steven where to be placed in cryogenics stasis.

He went to Ianto's chamber first. He quickly kissed his lover's forehead and pulled out the Memory Retrieving Unit finding Ianto's original scan he was able to hit the updating feature and ran it over his head until he heard the familiar beeping indicating that the device had updated. He then collected a sample of Ianto's hair just in case there was a problem with his previously collected blood sample. He knew there wouldn't be but, it was too important to risk it. He kissed Ianto one more time whispered his goodbyes and closed his chamber.

A tear slid down his cheek as he then approached Steven's chamber. He was relieved to find that the blood had been washed off his poor angelic face. Jack suddenly broke down as he looked down at his grandson's frozen form. He stood over the chamber for several minutes sobbing uncontrollably unable to contain his grief. The sudden sound of his cellphone's ringer brought him back to reality. It was Lieutenant Hernandez urging him to hurry as the scientist and engineers were due to arrive at the hub shortly.

Knowing he had only minutes left to finish he collected Steven's hair and quickly ran the Memory Retrieving Unit over the child's head. He barely was able to slip the hair sample and device in his pocket before Lieutenant Hernandez arrived to collect him. Jack kissed his grandchild's forehead and whispered his apologies and closed his chamber. Wordlessly he left the room hating himself.

Jack was able to get his escort to drop him off at Ianto's flat for a few minutes before going to the hub to join the others. He made the soldiers wait outside as he quickly headed to the flat's kitchen and placed all of the samples in the refrigerator's vegetable crisper. He then put the Memory Retrieving Unit in the cabinet above the refrigerator knowing it would be safe there. He then washed his face in the kitchen sink to remove any possible tear stains and left for the hub.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack and Jorge were walking down the hallway towards the opened cog door to the hub when they heard loud shouts of anger coming from inside. As they entered the doorway they saw the cause of the commotion. Gwen was trying to keep a gentleman who was much taller than herself from trying to physically attack a soldier who was being similarly restrained by Beth.

There were at least two dozen civilians and soldiers watching the drama. Off to the side standing next to a pile of boxes and equipment Lois, John and Rhys were trying to contain their amusement over the scene.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!" Jack bellowed as he entered the hub's decimated central chamber. The tall gentleman stopped yelling and grabbing for the officer and headed straight towards Jack.

"Are you Capt. Harkness, the man in charge?" He approached the angry Captain offering his hand in a friendly manor completely opposite of his behaviour only seconds before.

"I'm Dr. Malcom Kline. It seems the Lieutenant and I have a difference of opinion regarding the former hub inhabitants. These creatures are far too valuable to just be destroyed. My God, it sickens me to know that these poor animals were alive only days before..."

"And now they're rotting corpses who pose a health hazard to everyone in the room." Said the officer interrupting the doctor.

"You're not in charge here Lieutenant. So why don't you close your mouth! You ignorant, knuckle-dragging mouth-breather!" Snapped Malcom.

The officer was about to respond when Jack suddenly shouted "Hey, I am in charge here and I've got an idea! How about everyone just calm down and focus on the bigger picture. In less than ninety-three hours we are all going to be dead if we can't get the Rift repaired."

He was baffled at the lack of focus his new **team** had; but he knew he had to defuse the situation quickly. Jack turned to Jorge and asked quietly "Lt. Hernandez can we possibly find freezer space for all of them until this is over?" Jack asked the younger man.

"Not a problem sir. Just give me a moment." the young officer quickly grabbed his cellphone and started dialling.

Jack then turned to Dr. Kline and assured him that the situation was at hand. Personally he was uncomfortable with the thought of his beloved Myfanwy being autopsied along with the other hub inhabitants but he was realistic. Now that outsiders knew of the Rift's existence, the topic of further research and a more intense study of the Rift's victims was bound to come up. It was a prospect he hadn't actually thought of; Nor wished to discuss, but it was far too late to worry about now.

Lt. Hernandez came back moments later everything was set and freezer transport was minutes away. With everyone much calmer Jack continued. "Now if it's not too much trouble can we now get back to the current crisis?" He said in a sarcastic tone.

Gwen rushed up to Jack and introduced the various physics and theologians who had been sent to help fix the Rift Manipulator; along with the various military engineers who had been sent to physically make the repairs. It seemed the Lieutenant who had been arguing with Dr. Kline was Lt. Jonathan Martin the officer in charge of the assigned engineers.

After all the necessary introductions Jack instructed the physicists and engineers to get ready all of the newly arrived computers and equipment.

He then told Lois and Gwen to dig through all the possible piles of rubble near where his office had been. He knew they should be able to find the remains of his office wall safe. Which is where he hoped the blueprints for the Rift Manipulator would still be.

He then sent John and Rhys to fetch the spare manipulator parts from the lower levels and then asked Jorge and Beth to see about getting the roof repaired. Anyone not assigned any particular task was to help clean-up the area. As everyone left to complete their assignment Jack quickly moved to stop Lt. Martin.

"Lieutenant, let's have a quick little chat. Shall we?" He said as he grabbed the younger man's arm and escorted him out of the open cog door. When he was confident they were out of earshot he started reprimanding the young officer.

"You want to explain what in the hell you were thinking back there?" He snapped. "What on earth possessed you to get into a shoving match with a civilian?"

"I'm sorry sir; but he provoked me..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Jack snarled at the obviously nervous young officer. "I don't have the time nor the patience to have to babysit a bunch of starry-eyed academics **and** a green, over-promoted officer as well."

Lt. Martin looked stupefied at Jack.

"They are the best minds this planet has to offer. And I need their help to save this planet." He said pointing at the cog door.

"You on the other hand are an easily replaceable junior officer who is currently wasting my time with childish excuses." He said suddenly pointing his finger in the young officer's face.

"Have I made myself clear?" He asked knowing full well he had.

"Crystal clear, Sir. Will you be needing anything else; Sir?" Lt. Martin asked wanting to leave the older man's glare.

"That's all for now Lieutenant. Please help the teams get set up I'd like to get started in the next two hours or less, if at all possible."

"Yes Sir." The young officer said with a quick salute. He could feel the redness of embarrassment on his cheeks and ears. He hoped that the Captain hadn't noticed as he fled the area.

Jack stood alone in the hallway. His eyes shut, rubbing his temples.

"_God, how I could go for a cup of Ianto's orgasmic coffee and one of his marvellous neck rubs right now." _He regretted the thought as soon as it came. A wave of grief crashed into him from nowhere and he almost fell from the weight of his pain.

He quickly tried to wipe away the tears that came pouring forth. Hoping none of the others had seen him slip. The world needed him to be a leader; to guide them through the crucial next few days. "_I must be strong for everyone's benefit." _He told himself. "_I can't let them see me upset or they'll lose hope."_

Pulling forth some of the strength that got him through two world wars. A few moments later Jack re-entered the central hub determined to save the world yet again.


	8. Chapter 8

Lois was in hell. She had spent the last half hour looking for the missing _safe_ which Gwen had earlier explained would look more like a column of metal and glass compartments not a traditional metal square. She was becoming more and more frustrated by the minute. The hub reeked with the stench of dirt, decaying flesh, pterodactyl droppings and rotting vegetation. The water that ran throughout the stone floor was brackish with debris floating in it. Lois was thankful that she and Gwen were on some of the metal grating unlike several soldiers who were actually standing in the filthy water while they sorted through the various piles of rubble.

Gwen had tried to explain how wonderful the hub had been before the explosion, but Lois was having trouble believing her. The piles of twisted metal, concrete, broken office equipment and garbage stood at least six to seven meters high and the smell was horrendous. Dr. Kline and the other theologians may have been overjoyed at the discovery of the hub's pterodactyl. But she personally agreed with Lt. Martin. That thing was a bio-hazard. The filth from the creature's nest was covering the surface of everything had been searching through.

Even though they were all wearing rubber gloves and medical masks the job was still disgusting. Her outfit was covered by various and mysterious stains. And she had torn the left pant leg of her now ruined pantsuit. She was very grateful she hadn't broken the skin on her knee when she heard the fabric give; because she shuddered to think of what kind of disgusting infection she could catch in here. And to top it all off she found the gloves hadn't stopped her from breaking two of her fingernails down to the quick.

While she searched, Lois found herself constantly thinking about the past week's events and she wasn't quite sure where her life had gone wrong.

"_How can I ever face my parents ever again after bringing this kind shame upon the family? They're going to disown me I just know it... I should have never tried to help but, Gwen sounded so desperate the first time she called, it just seemed wrong not to." _She thought depressingly.

Her simple temp job transcribing computer files had morphed into her being charged with treason. All because of Torchwood's trying to stop the government from forcing children into a fate worse than death. She had seen firsthand how revolting the 456 had been close-up. The thought of being attached to one of those disgusting beast for the rest of your life was beyond her imagination.

Lois was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't pay attention where she put her hand.

"Ouch!" Lois suddenly squealed grasping her hand in pain.

"Are you okay love?"Gwen asked as she dropped debris into a bucket for the soldiers to clear away.

"Ow!... Yes; I'm fine... I just broke another nail."

Gwen hissed in empathy "Is it bad?"

"I'll live." She sniffed trying to hold back tears as she checked the damaged finger.

"Gwen, can I ask you a serious question?"

"Of course; What do you want to know?" She said surprised by Lois' sudden willingness to talk.

"Why am I here?"

Gwen had stopped her sorting through the rubble and looked squarely at the other woman.

"What do you mean?" She asked shocked at the question.

"Am I a prisoner, an employee or what?"

Gwen stared at Lois dumbfounded.

"I mean UNIT just assumed I was actually working for Torchwood. When they brought me to Cardiff I told Gen. Bradford that I wasn't a _real_ Torchwood employee. She said that it didn't matter, my help was needed and I had been drafted. I just really need to know what's going on here."

"Your here because we desperately need your help. What we're doing right here, right now is very important. If we can't find the blueprints we will have to try and fix the Rift Manipulator by trial and error and frankly we don't have time to waste doing that. Because if the theologians are right the world ends on Tuesday." Gwen said her voice rising as she desperately tried to make her point.

"I'm sorry but I'm not sure what I can really do to help. I'm just a personal assistant, I don't really have any skills that could possibly be useful." Lois said crestfallen.

"If you want to go home I'll ask Jack to find someone to take you. But do you really want to spend the last few days of your life sitting at home hoping we can save the world." She said gesturing wildly about everyone else in the room."Or would you rather help us try to save it."

Lois looked at the other woman. Gwen was just as filthy and dishevelled as she was. There were dirty, smeared tear stains on her face as well. She looked as bad as Lois felt, yet she hadn't given up hope.

"I'm the police liaison officer here. I have no idea how the Rift Manipulator works but that doesn't matter, I can still be of use. After we find the blueprints there's food and drinks to be fetched and still more cleaning that needs to be done. Then we've got to worry about sleeping arrangements for everyone as well. As dull and boring as it sounds someone needs to see that everyone is taken care of and right now that's how you and I can help."

"Besides, I'm pretty sure because you were charged with treason the government won't agree to pay you for working last week. So why not let us pay you? That's assuming of course, the world isn't destroyed on Tuesday. If we succeed, we'll even see if you want to stay on permanently." Gwen said.

Lois considered Gwen's words carefully. She knew the other woman was right but, the events of the last few days had really shaken her. "I want to help, I really do. It's just... I just... don't know... if..." She gasped as she suddenly burst into tears.

Gwen approached Lois and suddenly pulled her into a tight hug. "Shh... it's okay sweetheart. Just let it all out." She whispered into the other woman's hair.

Lois clung to Gwen like a small child as she wailed into the other woman's shoulder. Gwen held her tight as she murmured words of support. She would occasionally rub or pat the other woman's back attempting to comfort her.

The entire outburst lasted no more than five minutes but to Lois it had seemed like she had been crying for hours. Once she seemed calmer Gwen released her from the hug but kept rubbing her back in a comforting gesture.

"Feel any better?" She asked as she wiped away a few of her own tears with her free hand.

"Oh... I'm so sorry. I have no idea why I suddenly burst into tears like that." Lois said as she pulled herself away from Gwen.

"Maybe because you need to?" Gwen suggested. "There's not a thing wrong with having a good cry now and then. Trust me I've cried a river of tears in the past few months. All part of the job I'm afraid."

She said sadly. "Ready to get back to work?"

Lois nodded her head yes and wiped away the last few stray tears from her cheeks as she and Gwen went back to searching through the rubble for the needed blueprints. She still wasn't sure if she should stay, but Gwen was right. From the looks of things, they could definitely use her help.


	9. Chapter 9

John and Rhys were exhausted. The simple task of moving the few spare parts had been taking forever. The smaller parts were easily carried up two small boxes. But the much larger parts had been extremely heavy and difficult to transport. They were currently lugging the last and largest of the pieces. It was 2.3 meters long, 1.2 meters in diameter and weighed nearly 50 kilos. Its awkward size and shape was proving very difficult to manoeuvre up the stairs from the lower levels.

"Are we sure they'll even need all of these pieces." Rhys wheezed while uneasily walking backwards up the stairs.

"Oh probably not, but it's not worth arguing with Jack over it." Puffed John as he struggled to keep up with the larger man's pace.

"Well after lugging this lot up five flights of stairs, he definitely owes us a couple of pints." Huffed Rhys as he crossed the top step into the hub's central chamber.

"You're right about that." John agreed.

At first, John had assumed that working with Rhys would be a difficult experience. Gwen was no fun, so he figured her husband would be the same. But during the multiple trips back and forth they had chatted and in spite of himself, he realized he actually liked the other man.

Dr. Kline was delighted when the pair arrived with the final part of the Rift Manipulator. He and the others had their computers and workstations setup and were feeling a bit useless with nothing to do.

"Anyone know if they've found the blueprints yet?" He asked eager to get started.

"Looks like they're still searching." Rhys said as he scanned around the room. Even with over a dozen teams looking through the piles of debris they still hadn't really made a dent in the cleanup.

"I'm sure they could always use a few more hands to make the job go faster." He suggested as he rounded up gloves and masks for everyone to use. A quick chat with Gwen to get a description of their quarry and they too joined the search.

* * *

While the others on the team had been cleaning, moving or setting up equipment. Jack had spent the last few hours on the phone trying to touch base with various government leaders that had been notified by UNIT about the current world wide crisis. They were all justifiably angry over the fact that the attack on Torchwood had resulted in the current global catastrophe. Many of the officials he spoke with had chastised him personally for not coming to them for help after the attack. Several had left instructions should such an attack occur ever again he and his team should immediately go to their respective embassies for help.

The hardest call to take was when the Queen called him. He had known her all of her life and he had never seen her this angry about anything. That anyone had dared to attack crown agents on British soil was bad enough. The fact that it was almost a week later and she was just now getting the full details of what happened from an American UNIT commander instead of him was unforgivable.

She couldn't understand why the Torchwood team would believe, for even a moment, that she would have allowed them to be attacked. She reinforced to him her promise of unquestioned protection. She also told Jack she was sending a personal attaché to serve as her "eyes and ears" during the current crisis. A "helping hand" to offer support to the team is what she said to a distraught Jack.

"_A babysitter! She's sending us a bloody babysitter." _Was the only thought running through Jack's head after he ended his call with the Queen."_As if the last few days weren't bad enough." _He thought sadly to himself.

* * *

After the roof "situation" had been addressed and a portable phone station had been setup for Capt. Harkness to receive calls. Beth and Jorge had joined the other team members in the cleaning up. It was close to 1500 hours _(3pm)_ no one had taken a break from working yet and Beth was starving.

"Jorge...who's in charge of getting food around here?" She asked her partner.

"Huh...the Captain hasn't assigned anyone that task yet." He replied.

Beth rolled her eyes at the man. There were nearly seventy-five soldiers and civilians on site. All of whom we're just as tired and hungry as they were. And he was just going to wait for permission before asking anyone about getting something to eat. She liked Jorge a lot but, he never understood sometimes you shouldn't just follow orders but, lead in the decision making.

"Well you keep up the cleaning and I'll see about lunch." She said as she quickly turned and headed towards the Captain's workstation.

Jorge shook his head in disbelief. "_That's always been Beth's biggest problem. She is never willing to wait for orders." _He thought to himself.

Before Beth could approach Jack about the subject of food. One of the soldiers who had been carrying the debris out the skips outside came running in.

"Excuse me ma'am but we've just found a scavenger crawling through the skips." He said in a hurried voice.

"Where are they now?"

"Uh...it was just a teenager and he...he got away from us ma'am."

"Oh that's just great! What did he take?" She snapped back at the solider.

"Whatever it was it wasn't very big or very heavy considering how fast he fled from the scene." the soldier offered quietly.

"Tell me that there is now a guard posted at the skips now so we don't have a repeat of the problem." She snarled at the man.

"Uh...not yet ma'am...uh I just came back in here to alert you of the problem." He replied looking embarrassed.

Beth looked around the room. She snapped at the soldier to follow her as she pulled another man from one of the cleanup details and ordered them to guard the skips. She wasn't sure what angered her more the fact that they couldn't even throw out garbage without it being guarded or that the soldier that told her of the incident wasn't capable of posting a guard himself before reporting the situation. Couldn't anyone here think for themselves? She prayed whatever the scavenger took it wasn't dangerous because she doubted they'd ever get it back.

After resolving the scavenging issue Beth once again set upon the task of getting lunch. As she once again approached the Captain she noticed how crestfallen he looked. She knew when Gen. Bradford had ordered them to setup the portable phone station it was because there were lots of important people who wanted to speak with him. And everyone in the room could see he'd barely hang up the phone from one completed call when the phone would be ringing again.

It was easy to tell from the man's body language that he was completely drained. She was hesitant to add to his burdens but, the team was exhausted and everyone's work was starting to get sloppy. Her confrontation from a few minutes earlier being a perfect example.

"Capt. Harkness... Sir...there's a few things that need your attention." She said when she reached the man.

Jack pulled himself from his thoughts and focused on the young woman. "Hmm..." He replied.

"Well the first thing was we had to post guards at the skips to keep them from being scavenged." She said quickly hoping he wouldn't ask for details about the incident.

Jack's face soured. "What happened?"

"I apologize, sir. It seems at least one person was seen digging through the trash before guards could be posted."

"And of course they fled before anyone could see what they took off with; Yes?" He stated knowing the answer.

"I'm sorry sir... I never would have thought it would be necessary to guard garbage, sir."

"It's alright Lieutenant; I'm sure whatever was taken wasn't really that important." He told her, hoping it was the truth.

"Also sir, I was wondering if you had a preference for lunch."

Jack was upset with himself. With everything going on, he had completely forgotten about seeing to the needs of his team."_Oh God...what's wrong with me... they've been working for hours now non-stop and I didn't think about meeting their basic needs. Ianto would have never let me push the team this hard for this long without a break." _He thought bitterly to himself.

"A great idea Lieutenant but, I'm not sure if the Torchwood accounts have been released yet." Jack said sadly.

"Oh it's not a problem, sir. We've been granted access to a UNIT account until the banks are opened on Monday. With any luck, end of the world or not all Torchwood accounts will be freed up by no later than Monday afternoon." She said brightly as she flashed a charge card. "What should I get?"

"Pizza would probably be the easiest to get for this large of a group. But with what's going on outside I wonder if the local parlour is even open."

"Oh...I should think so. If not I'll round up a couple of hands to run to the store for sandwich stuff. Worse comes to worse we'll raid Gwen and Rhys' flat." She said jokingly.

Jack gave Beth the number of the local pizza parlour. Then he watched her scamper off towards the tourist office to place their order. "_God maybe we do need a babysitter to help take care of us."_ He thought painfully to himself as the phone beside him began to ring.


	10. Chapter 10

Alistair Finch was lost in his thoughts as he drove towards Cardiff. He had spoken with Capt. Harkness only moments before and he could tell from the other man's responses his impending arrival was not welcome.

He really couldn't blame the man. Lately Torchwood had taken a back seat to more pressing issues of state. The last decade has seen Torchwood 4 disappear and Torchwood 1 fall. Archie's heart attack two months ago has resulted in the complete closing of Torchwood 2. All of which had left poor Torchwood 3 the only ones left to defend the planet. Even at "full staff" Torchwood 3 only averaged five to six members and the unfortunate deaths Dr. Harper and Ms. Sato had left the team decimated.

Even after the whole "Daleks steal the Earth" catastrophe, the crown accountants had persuaded Her Highness that the royal coffers could afford a vacation from Torchwood's excess. The problem was, the money that they had been saving had actually represented living humans who guarded the world from alien attack.

"_Dammit, Harriet Jones had been right all along." _He thought bitterly.

**"There will be a time when the Doctor doesn't come. When the Earth will need defending."** She had constantly repeated that mantra while she struggled to stay in power. Harriet had always felt that Torchwood needed more backing and support. She constantly begged for the Crown to listen, even as she was being forced out of office.

"_But we didn't and had allowed the world's primary defense system against alien attack be reduced to virtually nothing. It was only a matter of time before the Earth would be attacked again. We should have never left ourselves so weak." _Alistair fumed.

The details behind the attack on Torchwood 3 still didn't make any sense. Brian Green still couldn't explain why his office failed to let anyone on the planet know that they were dealing with an alien contact in the first place. His excuses that he was protecting British sovereignty by killing everyone associated with the previous dealings with the 456 were utter rubbish.

Then there was his attempts to blame the crown for not telling him about the importance of Torchwood 3. That had truly upset the Queen more than she wanted anyone to know. His lame response to Her Highness' questioning was that he would have never ordered the attack on Torchwood 3 if he had been informed about the hub's purpose and the rift it protected.

All arguments aside, it was his officer who negotiated 10% of the world's children into slavery. And yet, he and his cabinet still claimed the current worldwide catastrophe wasn't their fault. They tried in vain to dismiss the video evidence where they are selecting the British _**units**_. Both Mr. Green and Mrs. Riley argued that the video was being taken out of context and they were trying to make the best out of a bad situation. Regardless of their pleas Brian Green, Denise Riley and most of the cabinet officers were going to pay for their treachery with their lives.

"_There will be no trial of their peers. No solicitors on telly pleading forgiveness and understanding and no chance to garner an ounce of sympathy from the public. Even though each of the world's governments had their own meltdowns during the height of the initial crisis. It was the Green administration who had led in the betrayal of the Earth's citizens." _

"_They even built the tank to safely house that filthy bastard in. Christ! What kind of idiots build such a device without putting a failsafe option into it? Unlike everyone else on the planet these people had records of the first contact with his species. They had to have some idea of what those bloody bastards were coming back for."_ He thought angrily to himself.

He fumed over the events of the past few days for a couple more miles before deciding that he needed to quit wasting time raging over situations that he couldn't change. He had a long trip ahead of him and he needed to focus his energies on the tasks at hand. Helping with the fixing of the "Rift Crisis" and re-building Torchwood. He was at least an hour away from Cardiff and there would be plenty of work for him when he arrived.

* * *

In spite of the limited travel due to the world's crisis, Cardiff Airport was still fairly busy. Gen. Bradford stood out on the tarmac as she waited for Dr. Jones and her husband to arrive from America. The General had been in contact with the young doctors via cellphone for almost two days now. As they had to hop from commercial flights from Hawaii to Atlanta, then Atlanta to New York.

After being stuck at John F. Kennedy International Airport for hours during the "456 Harvest". The General organized seats aboard UNIT transport from New York to London for the couple. They were now only minutes from arriving via helicopter to Cardiff.

Through their various phone calls the General learned that Martha had been unable to reach the Doctor during the events with the 456. The young woman was very upset that he still hadn't replied to the dozens of messages she had left on his cellphone. Out of panic and desperation, she had contacted Mickey Smith after Monday's events to see if he had heard anything (which he hadn't). She also asked him to check with Donna and Sarah Jane to see if they had any news.

Donna's grandfather had told Mickey that the family hadn't seen or heard from the Doctor since he brought her home over half a year ago. It had been the same with Sarah Jane. She hadn't seen the Doctor since he showed up at her disastrous wedding months earlier. None of the Doctor's former companions had any idea where he was. And everyone (except Donna of course) were in a blind panic about it. They all insisted the Doctor would have never knowingly left the Earth in this dire a situation. They were certain of it. General Bradford only wished she could be as sure of the Doctor actions as his friends were.

The world was coming to grips with the crisis of the 456. Most of the responsible parties involved were already being punished. And hopefully the catastrophe with the rift would soon be corrected as well. Also all documentation on the Doctor's past activities revealed he wouldn't be persuaded to go back in time to "fix" the current situation. So in her opinion, the Doctor's whereabouts really didn't matter anymore.

She was confident that human society would survive this current alien encounter. They would have to. Because it was more than likely the 456 would threaten humanity again one day. And Gen. Georgia Bradford knew she would dedicate the rest of her life making sure that the Earth would be ready when they returned.

The sound of helicopter blades alerted the General to Dr. Jones arrival. The former companion and her husband hardly looked like a couple of young newlyweds fresh from a Hawaiian honeymoon. Both doctors looked exhausted. And as they approached the General, she could see obvious signs that Martha had been crying.

"Ahhh...Dr. Jones and Dr. Milligan welcome to Cardiff! I'm glad that you've finally made it. There's a car waiting to take you straight to the hub." Said the General, shaking the couple's hands and then leading them from the tarmac.

"What?...Wait...why are we going to the hub? I thought that Torchwood 3 was destroyed?" Said Martha, confused at the brash American commander manor.

"Oh...it was...but Capt. Harkness and the others will need as much help as possible in the next few days. And since your already familiar with Torchwood 3 you're a perfect candidate to help the Captain during this current crisis."

The General was moving non-stop throughout the airport and Martha and Tom were desperately trying to keep up with the diminutive woman as she rushed past security checkpoints and headed towards the front entrance.

The doctors were completely surprised that no one attempted to stop them as they too rushed past security to catch back up with the General.

"But...but...what about Tom? He's a civilian!" Martha said as she stopped a few meters away from the waiting vehicle.

A young officer exited the driver's side door and took the shocked couple's luggage from them and loaded it into the car. He then opened the backseat and waited for his passengers to enter the vehicle.

"Like most of the civilians currently at the location his services have been drafted. Here's a brief explaining the current situation." Gen. Bradford said as she handed Martha the file and gently pushed her and Tom towards the waiting transport.

The stunned couple looked at each other with confused expressions and entered the backseat. Their driver then closed the door, quickly jumped back into the driver's seat and sped off towards the damaged hub.

The General stood on the sidewalk and watched as the car carrying the exhausted couple drove into the distance. She then walked to her own waiting vehicle and instructed her driver to take her back to the UNIT command centre. There was still much work to do and they were quickly running out of time.


	11. Chapter 11

The slow deliberate scratch of a key in the lock announced the Doctor's return to the TARDIS. The normally jovial man was moving slowly and deliberately from pain as he headed to his ship's medical bay.

His quick trip to see the Crystal Caverns of Ta'kar had been a complete failure. The tour of the normally safe tourist attraction had ended abruptly when a rather large gentleman had leaned a little too hard against a dangling stalagmite. An incident which caused a portion of the cave's roof to collapse trapping the Doctor and a dozen others in the cave in.

The past three days had crawled by as he and the others waited for rescue. Only he and a young woman named Maris had been seriously injured. Luckily Maris' foot was merely sprained but not broken. The Doctor on the other hand, had been struggling with several broken ribs.

He knew he should have stayed to be treated by the planet's doctors. But after the ordeal of the last few days he simply long for the comfort of his ship. As he stiffly made his way to the ship's control panel he heard the most peculiar beeping noise.

The Doctor could feel his ship's distress as she urged him to go to the medical bay. He slowly and stiffly pressed the necessary instruments to start their journey into the vortex. He knew both he and his ship would be safer there while he healed from his injuries.

As the Doctor slowly made his way to the medical bay he heard the beeping noise once again. He knew in the back of his mind that it probably meant something important. But, the only thing on his mind for the moment was making the pain go away.

Once he entered the medical bay he made his way to the medicine chest and after a brief search he found the hypo-spray that he needed. It was times like this he regretted his decision to travel alone. After Donna's injury, he could no longer stand risking innocent lives just so he wouldn't be lonely anymore.

Tears of pain, sorrow and regret fell from his eyes as he gingerly positioned himself on the elevated medical bed. He had wanted to stop by to check on Donna after Martha's wedding last week but, he had changed his mind at the last minute.

"_Stupid old fool. It would be like the last time you saw her. She had no idea who you were or why you were bothering her. Besides, thanks to you, she doesn't even know who she truly is. Even though you never meant to hurt her. She's much better off without you."_ He chastised himself for being so selfish as to mourn the loss of her.

"_I just need to rest and heal for a little bit and everything will be alright." _He thought to himself as he wiped his tears away with a quick swipe of his hand. He then slowly lowered himself into a reclining position on the bed and pressed the hypo-spray to his neck.

As he pressed the button to activate the sprayer he hear the beeping noise once again. _"What in the hell does that stupid noise mean?"_ He thought to himself as the sprayer slipped from his fingers and the drug pulled him into euphoric warmth. The pain in his chest was slowly easing away and he was on the verge of drifting off into the first pain free sleep he'd had in several days. When suddenly he remembered what that annoying sound meant. _"Oh wait... that's the sound...that...Martha's...cell...makes..."_ It was the last thought in his head as closed his eyes and sleep overcame him.

* * *

The Doctor was dreaming of being a drone in a bee colony. He and his Queen had left the hive to be alone and were currently resting on the head of a brown-eyed Susan in the middle of a field of wildflowers. _"But only workers ever leave the hive."_ He thought lazily to himself.

The sun was shining down on his love and he as they enjoyed the sweet flower's nectar. He could feel his Queen's pincers delicately nibble kisses on his face as she buzzed sweet nothings into his ear. She then suddenly beeped instead of buzzed. _"Wait bees don't beep."_ He thought to himself as she rubbed his antennae with hers.

She beeped again and he suddenly was no longer a wee bee, but his full humanoid self. His sudden transformation terrorized his tiny love and she flew away from him in tears. _"What...the?"_ He thought to himself as he awoke from his drug induced dreaming.

"Well that was very weird." He said to no one in particular. He could feel the TARDIS relief as has he rose from the bed pain free and ready for action. He suddenly pulled a sower face and stuck out his tongue. His mouth tasted awful and he didn't smell all that great either.

He left the medical bay and headed towards his private quarters when he suddenly heard the beeping sound again. "Oh! That's right! Its Martha's cellphone that's been beeping all this time." He said as he smacked himself in his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"She's probably just called to tell me about her honeymoon." He said with a grin as he continued on towards his room. "I'll call her back after a nice warm bath. It's not like the world is going to come to an end or anything." He chuckled to himself as he gathered an outfit to change into and entered his personal bath.


	12. Chapter 12

The first thing Alistair noticed as approached the hub were the huge skips parked on the street outside the tourist office. _"Oh my God...Is that smell coming from the skips?"_ He thought to himself as he moved closer to the boardwalk.

He noticed a pair of UNIT soldiers standing next to the skips so he identified himself. After they checked his credentials one of the guards left his post and escorted him to the tourist centre. He hesitated just a moment before he walked into the false entrance. The naturally dated and dreary room was completely grubby from current "clean-up" activities.

A quick conversation with his escort revealed that the functionality of the lift entrance was currently unknown. Alistair quickly made a notation in his PDA to its possible repair as he made his way into the back room towards the only functional entrance to the hub. He was overcome by the overpowering stench that matched the one from the skips outside._"Oh we'll have to quickly correct this problem."_ He thought to himself as typed into his PDA while he headed towards the hub's centre.

The guard escorting him asked for him to wait by the open cog door as he went to find a superior officer. Alistair took this time to observe the various groups picking through the destruction. They were woefully under protected from the obvious bio-hazards they were clearing up. _"They should be in full protective gear at least until the condition of the ventilation can be fixed."_ He once again made notations into his PDA as this escort returned with a unit officer in tow.

Beth had been expecting their visitor. After placing their rather large lunch order, she then had called in to update General Bradford of their progress. She had been informed of Mr. Finch's impending arrival. He was a powerful civilian ally and her orders were to be the buffer between him and Capt. Harkness.

The General had been very specific that she not allow any more conflicts to arise between the ranks.

"_Damn...I had hoped he'd arrive after lunch."_ She thought to herself as she walked toward the dapper dressed older man.

"Ahhh... Lt. Walker, I presume." He said in a confident and friendly manor to the young officer as she approached him.

He held out his hand in greeting and the young woman quickly removed her filthy gloves and tossed them onto a wheelbarrow full of debris being carried out by another soldier. She grasped his hand in a firm handshake.

"Good to see you, Mr. Finch." She replied. "You arrived in record time. We weren't expecting to see you so soon. No major complications with the drive here?" She asked making friendly conversation.

"No none at all." He replied. He could feel the young woman's nervousness. "Why don't you give me a brief tour and update me on the current situation." He said trying to put her at ease.

The Lieutenant led him throughout the central hub's cleanup to the more tidy temporary workstations that surrounded the damaged Rift Manipulator. She then gave him a brief tour of the scavenged archives and then to the lower storage and the now empty vaults.

She gave a detailed report of what had happened to the aliens who had been kept there. Tried as she might Beth could hardly keep the disgust out of her narration. Alistair shared in her distaste over the situation. He had personally been given the confiscated MI5 reports detailing the events leading to and results of the destruction of Torchwood 3 by the Queen herself. Agent Johnson's report in particular, had been elaborate in the severity and cruelness in which she and her men had torn throughout the remains of Torchwood 3's Hub. Looking not only for evidence of Capt. Harkness' remains but, any useable alien technology. When they had stumbled into the lower vaults.

The revulsion he had felt as he had read the exhaustive report paled in comparison with the emotions he felt now as he examined the multiple cell chambers. Dried blood and gore covered the walls and floors of ever previously occupied cells. The floor outside the various cells were covered in spent shells as well as the spilled kibble and water that the Captains had left on the floor when they had first discovered the vault hours before.

Alistair found himself barely able to contain his rage as he once again questioned; What kind of people had been in charge of the government only days before? It was no wonder they could easily dole out other people's children without so much as a true afterthought of pity. It was becoming more and more obvious to him that the people previously in charge of the government were a bunch of sociopaths.

After making a few quick notations in his PDA. The pair swiftly left the vaults in to search for more hospitable surroundings.

Alistair had to admit the original designers of the hub had in fact planed almost any crisis. During the process of the tour they had stumbled across several rooms that had previously been setup as sleeping quarters with mouldering cots as well as a communal bathroom, complete with showering facilities. It was evident the rooms they were in had been used as make shift quarters during the blitz. Judging from the old magazines and pin-up calendars on the walls in the room.

Beth could hardly contain her glee as she rinsed her hands and forearms in the warm shower spray when she tested out the plumbing in the bathroom. She only wished she had some soap as well to properly wash up.

Alistair made a few more quick notes in his PDA. He then suggested to Beth when they were done with the tour, to pull a few of the cleanup crews from the main hub detail. They needed to clear out the old, dirty and broken cots to make room for the much safer, new and clean cots he would be ordering from UNIT for the team.

His head swam as he compiled a list of the various items he would need to get for them. They needed clean clothing, beds and bedding, toiletries. Not to mention they needed to setup a makeshift break room in one of the empty rooms near the future makeshift dormitory. There were several long days ahead and they couldn't rely on local takeaway being available during the current crisis.

As they made their way up to the hub centre the scent of garlic, herbs and spices hit them, nearly covering the normal stench that they currently associated with the hub.

"Yea...the pizzas are finally here." Beth squealed excitedly to Alistair as they approached the others. Beth made her apologies to her companion as she left him momentarily to take control of the situation. She then instructed the soldiers carrying in the food to the make shift area she had previously set up before giving Mr. Finch his tour of the hub.

Although everyone was starving there was a relived cheer when she told them of her discovery of the bathroom in the lower chamber. She made it perfectly clear to the group they were not allowed to touch the food without washing up first. There was no real need for threats as everyone desperately wanted to rinse of their hands and faces before attempting to eat anything and cue to wash up was quickly formed.

The food situation temporarily settled. Beth went back to find her charge. Much to her horror Mr. Finch had taken advantage of her distraction and had gone to introduce himself to Capt. Harkness.

She quickly fixed a plate of pizza for the Captain and grabbed a can of soda and rushed to defuse the potential crisis of the moment. Much to her delight the two men seemed to be quietly discussing the necessary needs for the team. Mr. Finch made a few more notes and then left for the tourist office to make the necessary calls.

The Captain had been cordial to Mr. Finch but it was clear that the smile on his face wasn't genuine. Beth could clearly see the difference when she offered the Captain his food. When he smiled at her his was face softer and it actually reflected in his eyes.

"He's only trying to help us." She offered hoping not to offend the older man.

"Yeah, I know." He said softly.

He could see the concern on her pretty face and he hated that she felt the need to worry about him. He thanked her for his food and joked that if she didn't hurry the crowd now cued up around the pizza was going to take it all.

Beth rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself as she walked away from him. At that exact moment her behaviour reminded him so much of Ianto it was all Jack could do to turn away from her before the tears started rolling down his cheeks.


	13. Chapter 13

"After you Professor Wu..." Said Dr. Petr Dedov with an elaborate bow.

Harry Wu rolled his eyes at his friend's weak attempt at humour and joined the cue for lunch.

Both men had been attending a conference on Semi Classical Gravity and the Unruh Effect in Paris when they had been approached by UNIT command and sent to Cardiff earlier in the morning. The urgency of the situation resulted in the pair not having a chance to eat breakfast. Now with it being close to 5pm in the afternoon the friends were famished.

After they collected their share of pizza they grabbed a couple of cans of soda and looked for a place to sit. They soon came across a young woman with braided hair sitting alone at a collection of boxes.

"Mind if we join you my dear?" Petr asked in his thick Russian accent.

"Oh...please feel free to." Lois said shyly hoping the pair wouldn't notice her current dishevelled state.

The trio ate in peaceable silence when suddenly John came to join them. He sat down on the box besides Lois and began to devour his food with gusto. Lois found herself staring as he practically shoved an entire slice of pizza in his mouth in one bite.

"Well it's obvious from watching both you and Jack eat. Table manners are no longer required in the future." Gwen said to John, as she and Rhys approached to join the group.

"Huh..." John slurped as he tried to chew his mouthful of pizza. The others in the group marvelled that he had yet to choke as he chewed on his food. "What's wrong with the way I eat?" He asked confused at the way the others were looking at him. Gwen just looked back at him with an exasperated look and shook her head in disbelief.

Rhys quietly told her in Welsh to quit picking on John. Gwen couldn't believe her husband would defend John's deplorable table manners and told him so. The others in the group watched the couple bicker back and forth between each other while they ate their lunch. But, because no one else the hub actually spoke Welsh. No one had an idea of what the couple was arguing about.

Although the real cause for the couple's tiff was stress and exhaustion. Their tempers were running high and they were getting a little loud. Several people in the hub took notice when Gwen suddenly stopped bickering with her husband and stood up from her group facing the various piles of debris still in the centre of the hub. Ignoring her still arguing husband; She took several steps forward and began to stare at a pile of rubble partially submerged in the brackish water.

Seconds later, she dropped her plate of pizza and shouted at the top of her lungs. "I think I see it Jack...I think I've found the _safe_." The entire hub flew into a roar of excitement as she tried to make her way to the item in question.

"Don't you dare go into that filthy water Gwen!" Rhys shouted at his wife as she approached the water's edge. "You've got to think of the baby's safety. God knows what you could catch from that disgusting pool." He shouted, as he made his way across the hub to reach her. Luckily, John was faster than Gwen and pulled her back seconds before she jumped into the water.

"Let the soldiers get it." He hissed at her wondering what she was thinking. "Just point it out to us." He said softening his tone when he saw the anger and confusion on her face.

"I'll get it." Jack said as he approached the pair. Gwen pointed to the spot she was sure she had seen the end of the _safe _protruding from. As Jack entered the water. He was joined by Lt. Martin and two other soldiers. After about 15 minutes of removing debris that kept the _safe_ partially submerged underneath the water. The men freed the heavy column of glass and metal, carrying the item in question to the centre of the room. After a quick glance, Jack found the cell that contained the tin, that hopefully held the much needed blueprints.

It took several minutes with an oxyacetylene torch before they were able to free the tin from _safe's cell._

But much to everyone's relief, the greatly needed ancient blueprints were safe and more importantly dry, despite being submerged underwater for nearly a week. Jack happily gave the documents to Malcom and Jonathan and allowed the men to coordinate their teams into action.

Lunch was quickly forgotten now that the repairs could start. Jack quietly instructed Rhys and John to hide the rest of the safe deep within the vaults. Stressing to them how important it was that the _others_ not see where it was hidden. He then asked Gwen and Lois to help Mr. Finch get the dorms ready for the already exhausted team. Lastly, he asked Beth and Jorge to rally anyone not working on the Rift Manipulator to keep up with the cleanup effort. For the first time in nearly a week, Jack finally felt the smallest glimmer of hope.

* * *

Mr. Finch had been delighted with the news that the repairs were now underway and that Gwen and Lois were now assigned to help him. UNIT was sending cots and basic uniforms for the team to use but other necessitates: linens, toiletries, food, etc... would have to be purchased and curfew would be starting in a few hours. He suggested however, the women to take the time to go to Gwen's and get cleaned up before heading out to Tesco.

Once they arrived at the flat, Lois insisted that Gwen have first go at a shower (it being her flat after all). While waiting for her turn to clean up she laid some old newspapers over the sofa and tried to relax and watch a little television. She fell asleep a few seconds after she sat down, remote still in her hand and the television still turned off. Gwen came in 20 minutes later and reluctantly woke her.

* * *

After nearly 15 minutes in the shower and Lois was still scrubbing herself clean. She had never in her entire life felt so dirty. So, she was making the most of the first shower she'd taken in days. She generously added another squeeze of rose scented shower gel to her flannel and rubbed herself over for a third time. Finally convinced she was no longer dirty, she reluctantly pulled herself from the warmth of the shower.

She quickly dried herself and put on the clean clothes that Gwen had given her to use. Fortunately they were close to the same size. Lois was mildly OCD in nature and had been reluctant to borrow Gwen's clothes But, a quick look over both of their ruined outfits resulted in everything they were wearing ending up in the bin (shoes included). Luckily the bra & panties she was now sporting had still had the tags of the very posh shop they had been purchased from on them (a yet unused bridal shower gift Gwen had assured her).

Her final act of grooming was a rigorous brushing of her teeth. She had nearly burst into tears when Gwen presented the new, unopened toothbrush to her. Her mouth had felt so dirty and foul over the past several days. Lois just couldn't believe how good the simple act of brushing one's teeth felt.

Feeling human once again, she exited the bath to find her companion sitting on the bed crying. Gwen quickly turned her head away from Lois and wiped away her tears with her hands.

"Oh... I'm so sorry... I don't wish to disturb you." Lois mumbled embarrassed to have intruded on other woman's grief.

"Don't be silly." Gwen said as she rose from the bed. "I just had a little too much free time to myself and started thinking about things I can't change and friends that I miss." She pulled a tissue from the box on her bedside table. She wiped her eyes and nose and willed herself to stop crying.

Gwen quickly changed the subject to spare them both more embarrassment. "We need to get going now, anyways. Mr. Finch called while you were in the shower and the store will be closing an hour before curfew starts. So we've got to hurry." She said as she left the bedroom, heading toward the flat's small kitchen.

Grateful for a chance to end the awkward moment Lois quickly followed her out. Double checking that they had the credit card Mr. Finch gave them, Gwen gave Lois a set of keys.

"Aren't you going to drive us there?" Asked Lois confused.

"Those are the keys to Rhys' car. I'll be driving mine, because I'm sure we'll need both to carry everything we need." Gwen said as she was walking towards the front door. "You can drive can't you?"

"Yes I can but, my driver's license is in my purse and it's still being held by UNIT."

"Well I guess you'll have to be super careful and not have any traffic violations then." Gwen said jokingly as the two women left the flat to start their shopping spree.


	14. Chapter 14

A black sedan made its way through the streets of Cardiff. In the back seat Tom tightly held his wife as he murmured words of comfort in her hair. Martha had just finished reading the overwhelming details of the hub's destruction and of Ianto's death at Thames House and she could no longer contain her sorrow.

The discovery of his death was the final blow of what had been a devastating week. Martha had been on the other side of the planet when the crisis first started. Completely frustrated that she had been unable to do much of anything but worry, when the children had began their chanting. She tried multiple times to call the Doctor only to have her calls sent to his voice mail. Which did nothing but frustrate her even more.

Later, Martha had began to suspect that something was amiss, when she tried to get any information about the children's strange behaviour from her UNIT colleagues, she was brushed off. Then she received a call from Gwen telling her of Torchwood 3 destruction. When she checked to see if UNIT was investigating the bombing. She was informed that all members of Torchwood 3 were being charged with treason for actions against the crown.

She decided right then that she needed to get home so she could try to help Jack and his team. Especially since she _still_ had been unable to reach the Doctor. While stuck at the various airports she had played phone tag with every possible UNIT contact and former friend of the Doctor that she knew for help. She had no luck contacting any of the Doctor's former companions. Which upset her even more.

After hours of trying, she was finally able to reach Mickey Smith, he offered to check in with Donna Noble's family and with Sarah Jane Smith to find out if they had heard from the Doctor. Her various calls to UNIT had resulted in her being contacted by General Bradford who also questioned the reasons behind the attack on Torchwood. General Bradford had turned out to be a huge ally when the couple found themselves trapped at JFK unable to travel overseas. And it was because of her they were now on their way to the destroyed Hub.

The file the General had left with Martha listed the various agencies responsible for not only the attempted slavery of millions of the Earth's children. But it was the direct actions of these same agencies that had caused the current rift crisis. It was devastating to find out that the possible destruction of the planet was the result of nothing more than jealousy amongst the various branches of the British government. Their concern was only with whom controlled the secrets of the rift not with the citizens they were suppose to protect.

During their long journey back home Martha and Tom had talked at length about what her possible support of Torchwood would mean for her career at UNIT. After reading the file she knew she could no longer work for people with whom supported the idea of kidnapping and enslaving children. The reasons behind why the 456 wanted the Earth's children had been the final straw and solidified her decision. She would be turning in her resignation in the next few days.

The driver announced to the couple that they would soon be arriving at their destination. Tom took his handkerchief and wiped away his wife's tears.

"It will be okay, sweetheart." He whispered into her hair as he pulled her closer and kissed her affectionately.

"I'm not so sure." She whispered back unsure how much she should say in front of the driver.

The car pulled alongside several skips full of garbage and debris. After the vehicle came to a complete stop the driver quickly got out of the car to help the couple with their bags. He gave Martha a quick salute and was pulling away from the tourist centre moments later.

Martha and Tom flashed their ID's at the guards by the skips then made their way to the open tourist centre. She was surprised to find a well dressed older gentleman whom she didn't recognize behind the desk. He was taking a call on his Bluetooth while punching away at his PDA. He smiled and waved them in and as soon as he finished his call he came around the desk to properly greet them.

"Dr. Jones, Dr. Milligan I'm so glad you finally made it." He said shaking both of their hands in a firm but warm greeting.

"I'm Alistair Finch and I've been told about how difficult your journey has been. I wish we could offer you better accommodations but with times such as they are, and all." He said with a dismissive hand wave.

"Are you hungry? I'm sure I can get you a bit of the pizza left over from lunch...which was actually served about 45 minutes ago so it should be to terribly cold." He said looking at his watch.

"Oh, no...don't bother with all that. My stomach is so upset I don't think I could eat anything right now." Martha said to the very posh, but quirky gentleman. "Are you hungry, Tom?" She asked her husband.

"Sorry, I'm still feeling a little travel sick from our journey here...couldn't eat a bite, I'm afraid."

"We'll no worries, hopefully once Ms. Cooper and Ms. Habiba return I'll have more to offer you than cold pizza and warm soda." Mr. Finch said with a smile. "If you're not hungry, why don't we just slip your bags right here, behind the desk and I'll take you downstairs to greet Capt. Harkness."

He grabbed the couple's bags from them and slipped them behind the tourist centre's counter. And escorted the couple towards the not so secret back entrance to the hub talking non-stop the entire way.

"We've had a bit of good news, about an hour ago they finally found the missing blueprints to the Rift Manipulator and repairs are now underway. Now have either of you actually visited the hub before?"

Mr. Finch asked not really waiting for either of the couple to reply. "The damage was quite sever so you may need to brace yourself for a big shock."

On and on he chatted with the couple as they made their way downstairs. As the trio went further and further down the stench that permeated the hub whiffed up to greet them.

"Oh my God...Is that raw sewage I smell?" Martha gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Perhaps, I've ordered several exhaust fans from UNIT. I hope they will get the air circulating better down here until repairs to the ventilation system can begin. I've also ordered hazmat suits for the cleanup teams as well. But our delivery of supplies have yet to arrive from UNIT." Said Mr. Finch as he directed the couple towards the cog door entrance to the centre of the hub.

As the young couple entered the doorway, Tom heard his wife's horrified gasp. Martha knew that the hub had been damaged. But she couldn't have imagined how bad the damage truly was. Tom looked over at Martha concerned that the stress of the entire situation was finally taking its toll.

He could tell by the look on her face that she was on the verge of tears again. Martha had been disgusted when she read the terrible details of Torchwood 3's bombing. But nothing could prepare her for the destruction she saw before her now. She felt the bile rise in her throat as she willed herself not to vomit. She scanned the various groups of people until she recognized Jack. She suddenly flew across the room not stopping until she standing mere inches away from him.

"God Jack...I'm so...so...sorry..." She cried, as she fell into his arms weeping.

He held her tightly, rocking her back and forth with tears in his eyes, as they whispered words of sympathy and comfort to each other.


	15. Chapter 15

Hey everyone, look who's back!

In case you couldn't guess it, real life got extremely complicated last summer and I had to stop writing for a while. Hopefully I won't ever leave you guys hanging for so long ever again.

Here is the first of hopefully several updates that I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks. But please be patient. Both kaseykc and I are in classes now and class/homework always takes priority over writing. But good news! I now that a have a couple of "free hours" between classes each week so,

hopefully I can finish this series before the end of this century. ;^ D ~chaosdablkcat

"I _really_ don't think it's going to fit Gwen." Lois sighed in frustration as she tried to slide a twelve-roll pack of toilet paper on top of the precarious pile of shopping bags loaded in Rhys' car – maybe it would have fitted if they'd put the toilet rolls in first but they hadn't thought that far ahead when they'd starting packing the shopping into the small car.

"It's got to!" Gwen exclaimed as she desperately shoved another shopping bag into the less than cooperative boot. "We still have a whole shopping trolley full of stuff to load up yet." She added as she just about succeeded in wedging the bag in the boot only to turn and look at the six or seven remaining bags in the shopping trolley. She took a deep breath, well aware that she was now on the verge of tears. They'd decided earlier on in the day, when they'd just set out, that they'd probably have to run around the city to different shops in order to get everything they needed. Only, they hadn't had the forethought to realise that most of the shops would have already been liberated of most of their supplies by other panicked and desperate people in the city.

They hadn't minded the necessary running about the city once they realised that they weren't the only people in search of supplies, but what had frustrated them no-end was the fact that the only reason _some_ of the shops and supermarkets - that they'd gone to at least - still had stuff on the shelves was because they'd placed signs _limiting_ the amounts that customers could purchase! It was absurd really but though it frustrated her, the rational part of Gwen's mind knew that the shopkeepers were just trying to prevent possible hoarding – and trying to make their stocks last as long as possible; because it wasn't exactly a lie that once it was gone it was unlikely that they'd be more any time soon.

But... that didn't mean she had to like it. And besides, just how were _seventy-five-plus_ people supposed to share twenty-four, five-litre bottles of water between them for more than a day exactly?

After almost four hours – three and a half really but it's easier to round-up than be precise – of the pair of them racing all about Cardiff; avoiding the desperate who were searching for food and water with an almost erratic fear – only _almost_ though, because it was a decent fear; that of starving to death – they were finally confident that they had acquired as many supplies as it had been possible for them, for the group. But. The only problem – a slight oversight in their plan really – was how they were meant to get it all to fit into Rhys' atrociously small car? They'd already used the Torchwood 4x4, with all of it being filled to near explosion-level with the exception of the driver's side of the front. There weren't windows to see out of any more and the windscreen was the only method of really seeing what the hell was going around you as you drove. And it was no better in Rhys' car either; the only exception being that Rhys' car was so much smaller than the Torchwood 4x4.

Risking a quick glance at her watch, Gwen frowned as an extra addition of anxiety added to her worry. They had less than half-an-hour until the curfew started and they at least half that time away from the Hub and they still hadn't got everything in the damned car! Oh God, what were they meant to do now? Gwen was fretting so much, risking glances at her watch every few seconds as she tried to shove another unruly bag into the boot, that she didn't notice the person coming up behind them as they continued battling with the lack of size of the car and the shopping.

"Jeez Gwen! Did you leave _any_thing in the shop or did you have off with the door handles too?" A male voice suddenly exclaimed, a mixture of humour and shock in his voice, behind them.

Gwen started and spun around, her heart beating madly as she expected a not-so-nice person to be there, only to come face-to-face with Andy Davidson's friendly face. Well. Friendly but drawn and a little bit stressed but who wasn't nowadays? She took a breath and smiled at him; she hadn't seen him since he had been carted away along with the other men from Rhiannon's estate. And with all that had happened over the last day, hadn't once thought about his fate since she saw him yesterday.

She rushed over to give her former partner a big hug. Happy to see that he had made it through his ordeal okay. "Thank goodness your alright." She said giving him a tight squeeze. "What on _Earth_ happened to you?" She asked as she stepped back but still kept her hands on his shoulders, almost as though she was reassuring herself that he was indeed standing right in front of her.

"Oh." Andy shrugged as best he could with Gwen's hands on his shoulders still. "You know how it is. We were in lock-up for a few hours down at the local state and charged with _'assault'_ and _'disturbing the peace'_." Andy's face morphed as he smiled in bitter humour. "Then we were released once we were processed. Too many people to lock-up and not enough cells see." He was cut off from speaking again when Gwen dove towards him again and hugged him with in impossibly strong embrace.

They were stood like that for a few more seconds until Lois came around the car from where she'd been silently watching their interaction. Andy saw her out the corner of his eyes and he asked politely, but warily. "Who's your friend Gwen?" Just as Gwen let go of him and stepped back to give him his own space – she'd felt the muscles in his shoulders bunch up as he tensed at the presence of a stranger.

"Oh! Sorry." Gwen smiled sheepishly and proceeded with introductions. "This is Lois Habiba, Andy. Lois, this is P.C Andy Davidson, he used to be my partner before I left the force and went to Torchwood." Gwen explained as Andy and Lois shook hands.

"I'm not a Constable anymore." Andy said quietly, softly and Gwen raised her eyebrows at him. "They've uh... they fired me after I was processed. Said a officer of the law couldn't be a convict of it at the same time." He smiled sadly as he continued to shake Lois' hand; seemingly not noticing that he was still doing so.

Gwen blinked. She was dumbfounded. They fired him! For trying to stop the soldiers! For trying to uphold the legal law! Those bastards! Just as she was about to press Andy for more details Lois asked, abruptly changing the subject of the conversation and the man's demeanour. "Andy. You didn't happen to drive here did you?"

Andy blinked and licked his lips as he smiled nervously, finally letting go of Lois' hand, as he replied. "Course I did. Why'd you ask?"

The suspicion was audible but both Gwen and Lois decided to not cultivate it as they explained quickly about the shopping and Andy relaxed before offering to let them use his car as well. Whilst they packed the remaining shopping bags into Andy's car – and a couple from the over-loaded 4x4 and Rhys' car – they listened to Andy explain a little more about why he'd been dismissed and what he'd gone through in the last day.

"The worst part of the whole thing I think, was the argument I got into with my union rep. He kept insisting it'd be better for everyone concerned if I didn't make a fuss about my _'abrupt termination'_. "Andy sighed as he shoved a particularly large bag on top of the steadily piling load of bags in his boot. "As if I'd want to work with any of those wankers ever again. They stood by and did nothing when those soldiers were taking those children away from their families!" He snarled as he shoved another bag on top of the previous one, and Gwen raised an eyebrow as the sheer venom in his voice. Andy was always so sweet, he was kind and polite and definitely not venomous towards _anyone_. But apparently things had changed. A lot of things had changed.

Gwen placed a tentative hand on Andy's arm, stilling his venom-filled movements, as she said sincerely and softly. "Well I think it was really brave what you did Andy. You're right. They shouldn't have stood by and I'm glad that you didn't. You stood up to those soldiers alongside the families of those children and that will always make you the best copper this city's ever had. Don't you dare say any different and don't ever let anyone tell you any different." Andy smiled at her and he nodded, looking as though a ton weight had been took off his shoulders at last.

Gwen watched as he shut the boot of his car before glancing at her watching and gasping. "Shit! We've got just enough time to get back to the Hub! Come on. Stick close and don't flag behind. I'll take point in the 4x4, Andy you follow me and Lois could you take our six?" She turned around to look at Lois and saw the utter lack of comprehension on the woman's face. "Oh sorry. Uh. Could you take the back behind Andy? You know your way to the Hub better than Andy does see?"

Lois didn't see but she nodded anyway and said. "Alright then. I'll take your _'six'_." Gwen smiled as Lois hurried over to Rhys' car and Andy over to his own. As Gwen climbed into the 4x4 she heard Andy calling to her. "I've always wanted to see the secret club house. Guess I'll get the chance this time around." Gwen smiled sadly as she closed her door and started the ignition, hearing the sounds of Andy and Rhys' car starting up just seconds later. _'You are going to be so disappointed Andy.'_ She thought as she pulled out of the car park in front of the twenty-four hour Tesco with Andy and Lois following behind her.


End file.
